Wanted to bring this up, because I am totally aware that our animal ads are long, and things can get lost! I can definitely be guilty of including too much info, to the point that people may skim the ads, I get it!
...but rest assured, the one thing that we always include -- the location! You see, we're not only concerned about our own time -- but also yours! Of course, I want to help everyone as much as possible. There's a very nice lady in Washington state who calls periodically asking for chin-advice, and we talk about what's going on, and I'm happy to lend an ear, and give suggestions / advice. But note, that's suggestions / advice. Unfortunately, it does little good to have hour-long conversations about adopting if the person is far away and has no desire to set up some sort of transport for the animal. It takes away time from other potential adopters for us, and just as important, it means that whatever pet ultimately will get adopted by that family, has to wait longer, as often that family does not realize that they're not in the same general locale as the rescue they are conversing with.
Now, our rescues are pretty centrally located. We are primarily a home-based rescue, and we have a couple foster homes as well. Most animals are located here, in Hammond, Indiana. Our one foster is in Chicago, and the other is in Iowa. What this means to you --> all animals are within a 3 hour radius of northwest Indiana (yes, even the Iowa one).
Is that intentional? Yes and no. While we don't restrict how far out our foster homes can be, we do require them to come to the rescue to pick up supplies, and also, to bring the chinchilla back here within 3 days, should an adoptive home want to adopt directly from the rescue (as opposed to from the foster home). This tends to result in foster homes that aren't ridiculously far away, because otherwise this is an undue burden on the foster home to accomplish this.
At the end of the day, we are called NWI Chinchillas -- NWI meaning northwest Indiana. We don't have foster homes in Texas, as we are not Texas-based. However, we do understand that our ads can have quite a far reach, and we often DO have people apply to adopt animals from far away. Heck, as I write this, I am getting ready to prepare three chinchillas / supplies for a trip to Ohio with me later this week, and then going on a transport to Pennsylvania, a couple days later, to their new home.
This all is why all of our ads have location on them.
Now, on our website, all animals are presumed to be located here at the rescue, with the exception of the ones that specify, this animal is at a foster home located in [city]. I try to make the website not as long and cluttered, but our stand-alone ads (think, petfinder, hoobly, adopt-a-pet, rescueme, and so on) all include much more info including what comes with the animal, contact info, and of course... location! In fact, it's usually right above the adoption fee, and specifies, for example, "this chinchilla is located in Hammond, Indiana. Sorry, but we do not ship."
I guess to me, this is pretty straightforward, no? I suppose if you get to that line and read it, yes. But, if you have skimmed it, you maybe didn't see it. But just for your knowledge... I promise, in every ad, there is the location of the chinchilla.
If we can prevent just a couple people who message, all interested, all super stoked to adopt... and then they message... ok so where are you located? Oh, Indiana? I'm in California... so how am I going to get the chin? It will be worth it. Can't hurt to have it in there anyways!
Now that I've yapped on about very little for this long... I'm going to bed. Goodnight.
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