Jesse,

My answer is yes and no. It really depends on the animal, the species, the person, and the situation.

In the last 7 years of doing rescue, I've tried to make good contacts from all aspects of herping, breeders included. I've adopted many animals to breeders, knowing that they would be bred. However, my adoptions to breeders are becoming less and less frequent, as I find that many of the species I formerly didn't see often are now my most common species (common BCI, for instance.) Regardless, keeping a friendly relationship with breeders can help me in placing a difficult animal, or finding contacts for other reasons.

Now to answer some other questions posted:

How do I know you're not going to breed? I don't. It's a matter of trust and integrity. That's why I don't approve 95% of the adoption applications I get. If there's ANY inkling that I can't trust you, I don't adopt to you. I had one jerk last year that adopted a burm from me - and I made a big deal out of making sure he knew not to breed (he was a breeder). Turns out, the burm was gravid before she left here (I didn't know that) and he called a few months later to basically sneer at me and let me know that he'd hatched 36 burm eggs and sold them all. (In violation of the contract, I might add.) That was one case where I didn't follow my instincts, and I got burned. It won't happen again.

How do I know you didn't sell the animal? I don't. It goes back to trust again. My contract does stipulate that if the animal dies, I'm to be notified. I have yet to have it happen, though I'm certain there are animals that have passed.

How do I follow up on adoptions? E-mail, phone, checking with local rescuers to do a follow-up visit, etc.

Are the contracts enforceable? Yes. If you have the time and money. I've only had to do it once, but I'd do it again if I needed to. The courts are fairly clear on these contracts (which is why mine is so lengthy - it spells out pretty much everything). Again, though, I'm relying on trust - and my firm belief that most people will do the right thing. Naive? No - probably just over-optimistic.


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Bonnie Keller
VA Reptile Rescue
www.vareptilerescue.org

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