It would be nice to get this thread back on track and have some answers to Nutmegs original query. As a rescue I would love to know what else I can do to encourage homes to come forward. It gets very disheartening when I hear of people that know of and support rescues not actually getting their pigs from one but choosing to 'rescue' from a petshop.
Suzy x
I did reply on a similar thread recently, this is what I said put me off initially;
.... in all honesty I was put off a rescue first time round for a number of reasons, the fact I'd need to wait quite some time, the homecheck - not so much me but my OH was not impressed with the notion of someone coming round to see if we were fit to look after piggies, he said no-one did it before we had the kids! Also the cost, they rescue I spoke to would only rehome a neutured boar and a sow at that time, and wanted £35 for the boar and either £15 or £20 for the sow if I remember rightly, so we were looking at £50/£55 for a pair of slightly older piggies, compared with £20 for a pair of young piggies we could go and pick up from a farm, chose which ones we wanted and bring them home without a homecheck. Whilst I was pro-rescue, and dislike petshops so therefore found a farm that bred piggies for sale just once a year, I have to say that the process/cost was pretty hard to argue with my OH. I can totally see, that unless people are extremely passionate about rescues it would seem a lot of work in many cases.
This time around I spoke with Jo at Cheylesmore rescue and it was totally different, she actually allowed me to reserve two piggies without seeing them while we got our house sorted after a flood, we spoke a lot via e-mail and she gave me advice (such as not using wood shavings as I had previously) and background on the piggies, such as Roy not liking being picked up and kicking like a rabbit, she didn't do a homecheck but asked that I send her photo's of the piggies within 2 weeks in their new home. She only asked for £25 donation for the two although I gave her slightly more and was really helpful in asking me to get in touch with any concerns.
Whilst I do 100% understand that this approach offers less security for the animals,and less funds for the rescue, I also think it is more likely to get piggies rehomed and prevent a pet shop purchase, so in that respect it does work.
A few years ago my mum and Dad, who live in the country with lots of land and chickens/sheep etc, wanted to adopt a border collie from the RSPCA, they've kept Border collies for years and have had various rescues, and the two they had at the time were getting older and they wanted a younger ***** so that when either one died the other was not left alone, the nearest centre with dogs was about 50 mins away, and as well as the homecheck they had to take both dogs to the centre to meet the young dog on neutral territory, however the elderly dog was totally unable to travel as he was violently car sick and the ***** was blind from diabetes and on daily insulin injections and it just didn't seem fair to take them both there and potentially make them ill from the stress/sickness, so for the first time in many years of rescued cats and dogs they bought from a breeder, then bought from them again 2 years later, simply because adopting seemed so difficult.
I think it's very easy to judge those who don't rescue, and totally understand why people feel so upset seeing these piggies being bought when so many need homes, but like anything ethical (shopping/ not using certain products/shops etc) it takes considerably more effort so only those who do feel strongly are going to make that effort when they can simply nip out on a saturday afternoon and pick up a pet for £15
To be honest I think a lot of people don't like to respond to these sort of posts because some of the responses/posts are quite aggressive in tone and they simply don't want to be "bashed" by the rescues on here.
Even now if it wasn't for Jo living near me we would struggle to adopt piggies from a rescue, as I have no car and two kids aged 1 & 3 so public transport is a nightmare, my OH does drive but works full time and is currently doing two separate degrees/course part time at uni, so he literally works 7 days a week, often 15-16 hours and just can't take the time to drive me to somewhere like Walsall, also one example is that looking at young male piggies from the RSPCA, they are given neutering vouchers that need to be redeemed local to them, this personally is something I wouldn't be keen on as I have no intention of keeping sows and hate the thought of putting them through the op, plus again the transport would be an issue, so for me that would rule out a certain pair of piggies I really loved on their site.
I will be getting a pair of piggies shortly via a rescue who came from P@H adoption centre originally, I saw him and mentioned him to my local rescue and she said if I could get him she'd taken them in and take them to the vets etc, they were given to them by a breeder as one has a birth deformity which means his face is flat, he is very small (450 g at 12 weeks), eats slowly and breathes noisily due to this, the reason I have said we'll have him and his companion is that I know there's a good chance he may need expensive dental/vet treatment in future and I've seen so many "I can't afford the vet" type posts on here that I hate the thought of him ending up suffering because of this, whereas whilst we're not rich we own our own home, OH has a good job and we can always find money for vets bills etc, even if it means using a credit card. It's not a decision I'm 100% comfortable with, as I think it's so wrong a breeder can do this, but then on the other hand I wonder what the breeder would have done with him otherwise.
I'm sure I'll also get bashed for this, I spend my life trying to behave in a way I feel is ethical, I don't eat meat, use eco washable nappies, breastfeed, don't drive, don't use products which profit Nestle, give to charity etc etc, and as I say, this isn't something which sits 100% right with me, but then I won't make an apology for wanting to give an animal the best chance I feel I can, I have done and will again donate to rescues/take part in fund raisers etc, but I do feel that the constant berating of anyone who has had anything to do with P@H is simply going to ostracize people who do buy nuggets/toys etc from there.
I just thought to say that the PAH debate is a heated one and i think they'll always be people buying from them and others not buying from them etc. But yes i do see the double standards coming across in a lot of posts. x
Hehe good idea to point that out its very easy to start wondering and rambling on a completely different subject!
