I just got booted off a Bird page on FaceBook?

[DallyTsuka]

i like the notion of good breeders and good rescues. and even good petstores. i'd have no hesitation buying from a good petstore. sure, it "creates" a spot for another bird, but if they take good care of the birds there, whats the problem?

My issue with pet stores is, because they are businesses, at the end of the day very very few of them are going to refuse a sale even when the person interested in the animal is obviously a moron who has done no research whatsoever and doesn't care. I worked in a pet store for a while, and it was soul-crushing not being able to refuse sales.

If there are pet stores who actually screen homes, that's awesome. I've just never run into any.

If I owned a bird store, it would sell 95% supplies, and then have a few parrots up for adoption through local rescues or on consignment. And maybe a few from good breeders now and then. But I would definitely require an application, and screen homes.

my favourite local petstore IS a very rare one who will refuse to sell animals to someone, we've seen them do it. but you are right, thats very hard to come by. and its depressing. there are some breeders who do it JUST as a business and dont give a hoot about the babies either, and thats just as bad.

 

[aether-drifter]

my favourite local petstore IS a very rare one who will refuse to sell animals to someone, we've seen them do it. but you are right, thats very hard to come by. and its depressing. there are some breeders who do it JUST as a business and dont give a hoot about the babies either, and thats just as bad.

Yeah, it is depressing. That's why I'm pretty disillusioned with the pet industry at the moment (having worked in it and seeing how many scummy backyard breeders there are didn't help).

It's always heartening to hear about breeders and stores that DO care, even if they are rare!

 

[strudel]

That's why I say, education is key.

Absolutely - and that's why an exclusionary policy doesn't make sense to me. If you just boot people you deem "unsuitable" (for whatever your reasons are, valid, invalid, reasonable, unreasonable), those people will just feel rejected and maybe even angry towards your "cause". You'll never persuade them to your point of view.

However, I can understand why on the internet you just go "nah, not going there" because people can be totally unreasonable and if it is going to descend into the fight that it always does you might as well just shut it down before it starts.

I don't think that it's a good thing allowing a sector with a point of view to exclude those who don't agree. Gives them a false sense of their own "rights" as regard to the opinions of others.

I joined a forum that allowed incivility when it was directed to the "hive-mind's" view on a certain issue. I left because of it. If somebody holds a view that you really, really think is "wrong", you'll have better success persuading them than browbeating them with your opinion or excluding them. And no matter how many people agree with an opinion, it's still just an opinion and only as "right" as the facts on which it is based are sound.

 

[aether-drifter]

Yes.

That's why I'm part of groups like these, rather than ones like MyToos and FB groups like the one in question (I actually was in one like that, and ended up leaving). I respect their views and convictions, but not the houlier-than-thou, elitist attitude. Sure, I may disagree with people here sometimes on certain topics, but ultimately I think what we have in common is greater than our differences.