So, I hate to come back from not posting for awhile with a complaint, but this one has happened multiple times recently and I guess I just don't get it.
Someone will put in an adoption form for an animal. In all these cases, I've gotten back to them within a day or two (which I think is reasonable). When I do get back to them, they respond with, "oh, we adopted an animal elsewhere."
Now, I say anything else, yay for that animal that found a home... but... from a rescue perspective... it's a time waster. I'm perfectly fine with someone who, up-front, says that they're unsure they want a chinchilla / rabbit / guinea pig / whatever, because obviously, any potential adopter, at any time, can vanish and go elsewhere. I realize that. But for 95% of these times I'm thinking of, the person has gone to the effort to submit an adoption form, as well as an email that has told me about the adoption form with even more info about them and their family (which I can't help but think is copied and pasted to the various rescues / adoption agencies).... so they seem like a serious potential adopter.... well, until they say they've adopted elsewhere.
Reasons why this is frustrating:
1) Waste of time -- for a lot of people. If there's me, and another adoption agency that received completed adoption forms... are there more? How many adoption forms did they fill out / how many agencies did they contact, expressing interest in adopting? For each one of those, someone had to take time out of their day to read the form, make notes for themselves on things that might be improved or that they have further questions on, write those in an email to the potential adopter... only to find, op! sorry, they adopted elsewhere. If they filled out 5 adoption forms at different agencies and adopt only one, that wastes at least 4 people's time. For the larger adoption agencies that are run by boards of directors, where the board has to agree on the adoption, they waste even more people's time.
2) Lack of commitment to a specific animal -- ok, I realize this isn't a dog where we can have a super specific description including how it will get along with everyone and all that. But... if someone is applying for that many animals, do they even know what they want? I've literally gotten emails, one after another, literally saying, "oh I'm interested in this one." Next email, "oh this one too, tell me more about this one!" Next email, "oh now that I looked at your entire website, I like these 6 too!" To start with, this makes me think that they didn't even read the descriptions, but if they did... usually the ones they've picked are different enough in personality, that they seem to not have any idea what they want. Of course, part of the job of a rescue is to help with that, but at the same time... people have to have some idea, for you to start from. I'll ask, ok, would they prefer a baby or an adult? Doesn't matter. Ok, color? Doesn't matter. Gender? Doesn't matter. Well... I have 40 to pick from, so unless we want to start on one end and take them all out... it kinda does. And honestly, while some people might say, "oh, let's do that!" most breeders / rescues / anyone will tell you, that is the most frustrating people ever. I'm happy to pull out quite a few chins for someone, especially if they can tell me, hey, they're interested in a male chin under 1 year. We can even pull out every male under 1 year. But no joke, some people have no idea what they want and want to pull out every last chin, typically these people who do this sort of thing, and that gets old really quick.
3) You get your hopes up -- I swear on my life, this never happens on an adoption for a super adoptable animal. You know which ones it happens on? The seniors, the hard-to-adopt pairs, the ones with health issues. So, basically, the ones where they have little-to-no chance of being adopted in the first place (you might be surprised, or not, to learn that seniors and animals with health issues have a better chance of dying in rescue / foster than they do of being adopted). Until you get that email -- HOPE! And then, after you've responded quickly and gotten back to them and tried to be uber friendly and nice, you get the email back that they've adopted another one. Well... sorry, buddy, guess you'll be here another few months... I feel like it's inconsiderate, to apply for multiple animals and see what pans out. Yes, I have also heard the stories of rescues that never respond to adoption inquiries, but I feel like... give them a few days before you immediately assume that's the case! Not all of us are just sitting here, twiddling our thumbs, playing with animals all day. For me, I'm always working to catch up on paperwork, answer the emails, work at my other job, work on orders...and so on. I do my absolute best to answer emails in a timely manner, but chances are, that is not 5 minutes after you send it (and this is true of just about all rescues). We appreciate your patience as we get to you.
That is all.
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