How FreeCycle Made Me Sick This Morning - Cat Abuse!!

I am forwarding to you a string of emails I bounced back and forth with this morning regarding Freecyle and kitten giveaways. I was appalled to see that some user gave 3 week old kittens away "to homes" in no time.

Read it if you are interested, circulate if you desire, and let's try to find some way to stop Freecycle and other websites from perpetuating animal abuse.

Thanks,
Theresa





Anonymous Freecycler's Post:
4.
TAKEN: 3 week old kittens
Posted by: "arreed98" arreed98@yahoo.com arreed98
Sat Jul 4, 2009 4:06 pm (PDT)
They all have new homes..thank you!!
Back to top Reply to sender Reply to group Reply via web post Messages in this topic (1)

Theresa's Post:


Iam with a cat rescue/spay neuter group.
I hope you didn't give 3 week old kittens away to individual homes.
They are far too small to be apart from their mother, need feeding by bottle of special milk, medical treatments, etc. They will be sick or die if you just give them away.

Also, I certainly hope you are spaying the mother. I can assist you in doing that asap if need be at no cost to you.

There are thousands of kittens and cats put to death in our local shelters here in this county each year and we have to get the birth rate down. I don't know if you are aware of that but it's imperative to stop the breeding.

Also pit bull owners have been known to take "free kittens" and use them to train their dogs, i.e. the dogs kill the babies. Are you aware of that?

Please contact me if I can help you make sure these kittens and their mother get spayed and are safe and healthy.

Theresa Foley
Venice Cat Coalition
info@keywestcatsociety.com

Freecycle Site Monitor's Reprimand to Theresa:

**While your concern is appreciated, we do not allow conversational posts to the group. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but the post said that the mommy cat died.**>


What Theresa tried to post on Freecycle but was rejected by monitors:

Please DO NOT give away kittens on this website.> > Here is why, as I posted to the person who gave 3 tiny babies away today:> > I am with a cat rescue/spay neuter group.> I hope you didn't give 3 week old kittens away to individual homes. > They are far too small to be apart from their mother, need feeding by bottle of special milk, medical treatments, etc. They will be sick or die if you just give them away.> > Also, I certainly hope you are spaying the mother. I can assist you in doing that asap if need be at no cost to you.> > There are thousands of kittens and cats put to death in our local shelters here in this county each year and we have to get the birth rate down. I don't know if you are aware of that but it's imperative to stop the breeding.> > Also pit bull owners have been known to take "free kittens" and use them to train their dogs, i.e. the dogs kill the babies. Are you aware of that?> > Please contact me if I can help you make sure these kittens and their mother get spayed and are safe and healthy.> > Theresa Foley> Venice Cat Coalition> info@keywestcatsociety.com> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


Theresa's response to Freecycle site monitor:

Okay, but I never saw the original post, only "all are taken".Something tells me they were taken for dog fight bait, because they just got snatched up so fast. These poor kittens may have a very nasty fate.I would recommend no more pet giveaways on this site. The rescue groups have increasing concerns about this practice. i am going to post this to the rescues, to increase awareness of Freecycle's policy on this.I also do not 100% believe the mother cat died. This is what people repeatedly say in pet dumping situations. Then they keep breeding and breeding and think it's okay for the shelter euthanasia of hundreds each month. I hope you understand how this is perpetuating animal cruelty and that Freecycle could become part of the solution instead of part of the problem.With all due respect.Theresa Foley


----- Original Message ----- From: "julieandgeoff" <julieandgeoff@yahoo.com>To: "Theresa Foley" <tfoley1131@comcast.net>Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 10:46 AMSubject: Message not approved: Re:TAKEN: 3 week old kittens**While your concern is appreciated, we do not allow conversational posts to the group. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but the post said that the mommy cat died.**> Please DO NOT give away kittens on this website.>> Here is why, as I posted to the person who gave 3 tiny babies away today:>> I am with a cat rescue/spay neuter group.> I hope you didn't give 3 week old kittens away to individual homes.> They are far too small to be apart from their mother, need feeding by > bottle of special milk, medical treatments, etc. They will be sick or die > if you just give them away.>> Also, I certainly hope you are spaying the mother. I can assist you in > doing that asap if need be at no cost to you.>> There are thousands of kittens and cats put to death in our local shelters > here in this county each year and we have to get the birth rate down. I > don't know if you are aware of that but it's imperative to stop the > breeding.>> Also pit bull owners have been known to take "free kittens" and use them > to train their dogs, i.e. the dogs kill the babies. Are you aware of that?>> Please contact me if I can help you make sure these kittens and their > mother get spayed and are safe and healthy.>> Theresa Foley> Venice Cat Coalition> info@keywestcatsociety.com>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]