I'm the "gal who sees nothing wrong with auctioning of pets."
 
In response to the following arguments that auctioning is a horrible thing
to do to a comanion animal:
 
1.  People should pay $200 for their pets or they will not care for or value
their investment.
 
Pets are NOT an investment.  I payed a total of $210 for my two guys and at
this point they are worth more than money or material wealth to me.  Love
has no price.  Saying that people do not value pets that they have not payed
a large initial price for is an elitist attitude.  It is basically an
attempt to keep these pets out of the hands of the poor or lower class
people who are automatically assumed to be incompetent and irresponsible pet
owners.  I reject that.  Yes, a pet owner must be able to pay vet bills, but
there's no reason to think that he won't do so for a cheap or free pet.
 
2.  People who attend auctions are just indifferent passersby on the street
and will buy a ferret because they like to shout out their bids.
 
You don't know that these people haven't been visiting the pet store every
day to make kissy noises at these baby ferrets.  Yes, they might be jerks,
but having people buy from an expensive breeder who puts them through a
vigorous ferret education is no guarantee that the ferret will get a good
home, either.  People don't inherently value things that they spend money
on.  Don't you know people who never change the oil on their $20,000 car?
Do you think they would change the oil every 3000 miles if they had paid
$25,000?
 
3.  Auctioned animals are sold cheap.
 
Items that are auctioned often sell for MORE than their value.  It was said
that the aforementioned auctioned ferrets sold for $80.  Sounds like a fair
price to me.
 
4.  Auction buyers will not receive adequate information regarding ferret
handling and care.
 
It's nice if pet stores hand out good information and supplies, but there is
nothing keeping a new ferret owner from getting these things from another
pet store or other source.  It is the responsibility of the buyer to educate
himself on how to care for a pet, not the responsibility of the seller.
Even people that don't have $250 can usually read.  This is proven by the
person who called and asked if their ferret could play under the stove.  If
that person was irresponsible, would he have gone to the trouble to get the
advice?
 
5.  Horse auctions are different because the people who buy horses at
auctions are willing to spend more money.
 
More elitism.
 
Maybe we don't need people who are in charge of deciding who gets to own a
pet and who doesn't.  I would suggest finding something more concrete to
complain about than someone who never bothered you who is trying to
liquidate a pet store that is not making money by selling its contents to
people who would like to buy.
 
-Catherine
[Posted in FML issue 1565]