Conversation with a So Called Rescuer

I recently had a detailed email conversation on a national Lost Pet Yahoo group. She had found a dog and was looking for a new home for the dog. I told her that she needed to find the owner first before finding a new home. She also wanted to get him to a "no kill" private shelter instead of surrendering him to the local shelter where she found the dog. Here is her response. It is quite harsh and she has some pretty strong emotions about how she feels about a person who has lost a pet.

From: Janna M.
Subject: RE: [K9Alert] Will anyone take in "Buster", the found American Bulldog that nobody's looking for?
To: jackie@thesocialpet .com
Date: Friday, October 30, 2009, 8:53 PM

Jackie, I'm not going to continue this conversation on the group thread, because quite honestly, if I were anyone else I'd be getting tired of this exchange. I know I am. For someone who is supposedly a professional in this field, you don't seem to be very intelligent about it. FIRST OF ALL, as I stated earlier, IF I placed him with a group, I would keep my craigslist postings, FOUND DOG posters, etc. up so that the owners of the dog could contact ME, and I could then refer them to whoever (group or individual) took Buster in. SECOND, why would I spend money on adopting a dog that's not even mine, if I'm already unwilling to pay a $200 fine for getting caught with him at my house??? Come on, have some common sense! THIRD, at the Orange County Animal Shelter they no longer give preference for adoption to the person that turned the animal in. So, in your scenario, if I turned him in intending to adopt him and continue to search for his owner, and someone else adopted him before me, then where would the owners be?? Up the same creek as if I had simply found the dog a home.

Honestly, I don't see any point in continuing this exchange if you're not even going to have the decency to respond to ALL of my questions. I've responded to all of yours, and addressed all of your points, the least you can do is the same. I think you need to admit to yourself that you do what you do to benefit ANIMAL LOVERS, not to benefit the ANIMALS. I think it's great that you are trying to prevent others from the heartache you've experienced, but we all need to admit that when we as humans lose a beloved pet we will cry, we will search, but we will inevitably suck it up, move on, and most likely replace that pet with a new one. However, when a beloved pet finds itself lost, that pet is battling for its life on a moment-by-moment basis, and if it does not get "rescued" by a kind soul that will take it in, it will probably DIE ON THE STREETS, or DIE IN A SHELTER. To me, there is absolutely no argument about who needs our help more between those two situations. I believe that you and I could go around and around about this, probably forever.

Bottom line is that you feel that humans are deserving of your help more than animals, and I feel that humans can (and should) take care of themselves, and that it's the helpless animals that deserve my time and help. By the same token, I'm also in favor of mandatory spay/neuter laws and banning all puppy mills and enforcing STRICT limits and regulations on breeders (actually, I'd like to see them all put out of business, but I know that will never happen)...because I'm tired of cleaning up after other irresponsible pet owners! Somehow I think you probably disagree with me on this, because quite honestly, if it weren't for irresponsible pet owners, you wouldn't have a business... Janna