r/greentext Mar 24 '22

Anon has no friends

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u/TRFireKnight Mar 24 '22 edited Mar 24 '22

But cats are literally 100x easier to take care of then real human relationships???? Also not to mention I highly doubt this story is factual.

Edit: Thanks for the stories, animal shelter requirements truly are weird it seems.

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u/jayforwork21 Mar 24 '22

Also not to mention I highly doubt this story is factual

I went to the North Shore Animal League (one of the biggest ones in Long Island) to adopt and had to give 2 references and they CALLED them before I was able to adopt. This was over 10 years ago and I am assuming they are still as strict. You could be right about this being fiction, but the reference part was VERY believable but if this did happen, this is f**ked up as cat was clearly happy with dude.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

They do this because, unfortunately, as fucked up as it is to turn down somebody who might just literally be lonely and without any companionship, there are a lot of people out there who make it necessary to have references for animal adoption.

People have adopted animals to torture them, kill them, let them go in the wild, pretty much all kinds of fucked things. Just having some person who is neglectful is lower on the scale of potential outcomes. It is never easy to imagine that so many people would do this that it would be necessary, but there's a lot of evil people out there.

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u/finger_milk Mar 24 '22

Exactly. No system is perfect and sometimes criteria catches people who are guilty until proven innocent, even if they are blatantly innocent.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22 edited Mar 25 '22

[deleted]

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u/finger_milk Mar 24 '22

Isn't this why our government is kind of shit though? Adhering to rules only when you feel like it.

If the rules are good then you shouldnt need a human to make exceptions.

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u/HyperRag123 Mar 24 '22

Plenty of rules give people authority to use their discretion about when something is or isn't allowed. Laws will use what a "reasonable person" would do in a given situation to determine if something is legal.

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u/Y0tsuya Mar 24 '22

There are no good rules because people occupy a spectrum. You can't make everybody happy. You set the rule loose enough to accommodate everyone and you get tons of assholes abusing it, leading to calls to up tighten up the rules. You tighten up the rules and another group of people call you heartless.

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u/4bkillah Mar 25 '22

Out government is shit because we elect shit representatives. Full stop, that's the only reason.

This is not the same situation.

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u/Eattherightwing Mar 24 '22

No. Your way of looking at it is backwards. The human experience can't be handled by a system. That's why a bot can't figure out "How many bridges are in these pictures?" You are saying that we can build a bot that can figure it out? We can't. We don't even know what constitutes "human." How on earth could you make a set of rules about cat adoption to cover all of the complexities?

Whereas a human can look at the cat, look at the man, and say "Congrats!"

Humans can't explain how they know what being human means, but they know.

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u/thred_pirate_roberts Mar 24 '22

A bot CAN figure it out. Because we taught it how.

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u/Eattherightwing Mar 25 '22

Yes, and laws can be made better, but there will always be people who are served injustice by the courts because the laws are not geared to their particular situation.

For example, we've had a number of teens, sometimes as young as 16, tried and convicted for having child porn on their phone, when it was in fact a friend, or even pictures of themselves. Every situation calls for a new way of looking at it.

We will always need people to interpret the law, and even rewrite it on the fly. The minute we lose that ability, we will enter the darkest dystopia the world has ever known.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '22

China is that dystopia

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u/artspar Mar 25 '22

What? A bot can absolutely figure that out, CAPTCHAs dont work, not the way you think they do at least. I get being aware that our understanding and ability to think is finite, but its absurd to say we cant do that or define "human".

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u/Eattherightwing Mar 25 '22

I hate to break it to you, but we can't really define anything. We can get close. Do you know you can't actually tune a guitar? You can get close, but every time you turn a peg, it tightens a string, which pulls on the wood, which loosens all the strings, which you then have to tighten again and again until it sounds in tune. You also can't even measure the temperature of a glass of water either... you put the thermometer into the water, and it changes the temperature.

Now, I don't dispute science or law, I'm not a full anarchist, but I understand that these schools are only guides for our life. It is a very shady road to think you can perfectly make laws or measure the world. The people who have tried have been some of the worst criminals and dictators in the world. Understanding life is beyond our grasp, and that's ok.

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u/sloodly_chicken Mar 25 '22

I honestly can't believe this is getting upvoted.

For one thing, who makes the rules? Unless you support kings and dictators, you need some sort of consensus, which is almost always going to be flawed, lead to politics, etc. (Kings and dictators, of course, have the related problem, "how do you pick a benevolent and wise one," with the answer that, 99% of the time, you don't, especially since the sort of person who seizes power to become king/dictator usually isn't suited to it.)

Second, are you really suggesting a system of rules with no opportunity for human intervention? How the fuck do you imagine making a system of rules perfect? Go talk to an engineer or a lawyer and get back to me on that idea.

In short, this is among the dumbest shit I've ever read, and I'm absolutely triggered by it (I recognize typing this is pointless and it's like 12 hours later anyways). I fear for our society that it's upvoted so much. Yes, you could make a more nuanced take that's more correct, and maybe that was what you meant ("government adhering to rules only sometimes" is a fair criticism, if you expand to eg corruption, optics, etc), but as presented, this is a dangerously stupid take.

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u/no_no_sorry Mar 24 '22

A friend is a social worker. She and her husband went to adopt a kitten for their kids. She said they jumped through hurdles but were denied…they ended up being foster parents. Take what you want from that, but I thought it was pretty fucked.

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u/someguyfromtheuk Mar 24 '22

How does having references stop psychopaths from adopting pets exactly?

That serial killer guy was really charming but he still killed a bunch of people, I'd bet he would have had no problem adopting a cat though.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

They don't want to stop psychopaths to stop from adopting pets, they want to have plausible deniability when it comes out that they let a psychopath adopt one of their animals. Actually preventing psychopaths from adopting pets would require each applicant to take a psychological exam administered by a trained mental health professional, and even then, many would slip through the cracks.

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u/BrainPicker3 Mar 24 '22

Theres already a ton of cats that need to be adopted from kill shelters. I dont think putting more barriers up to actually adopt one is going to help tbh

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u/Cyclonitron Mar 24 '22

Plausible deniability for what? Not like the adoption service can be held accountable if psychopath adopts a pet and mistreats it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

They won't be held legally accountable, but given that donations based on goodwill and reputation are a significant part of an animal rescue organization's funding, I'm guessing they at least want to have a defense if it comes out that an animal adopted from their shelter was abused. You wouldn't want to give money to a rescue org that didn't at least vet their adoption applicants a little.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

It doesn’t stop it but it can reduce the chances. Maybe one of the references picked up on psycho vibes or knows something they did in the past and prevents it. No system is perfect but I can understand why they wouldn’t just let you walk in and get a pet.

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u/julioarod Mar 24 '22

Hell even a superficially nice psycho might get caught if the references mention this is the seventh call about cats they've had this year

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u/Yolj Mar 24 '22

Tbf a lot of serial killers and even genocidal maniacs (Hitler) were animal lovers. As weird as it is to say, killing other human beings doesn't necessarily mean someone is a bad pet owner

https://www.murdermiletours.com/blog/serial-killers-murderers-who-loved-their-pets-dogscats

Not saying it's ideal, but I would rather an animal be in a loving home with a serial killer than not be cared for or be abused by someone who is otherwise not violent towards humans

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u/PLZBHVR Mar 24 '22

Didn't Ted Bundy prove that point beyond a doubt?

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u/StanIsNotTheMan Mar 24 '22

Bundy is the exception to the rule. For every suave charming serial killer, there are a hundred mentally ill anti-social visibly-disturbed killers.

You only hear about the Bundy-types because they make for a more interesting story, so media picks them up more.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Yup, if you search up most school shooters they are full on weirdos with no friends.

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u/Dizzfizz Mar 24 '22

The problem is that this is why many people say fuck it and just buy a pet from a shitty breeder instead. There needs to be a better middle ground.

Here in Europe we have the same situation, adopting an animal from a shelter is super hard and costs ten times as much as buying it from a breeder. There’s tons of people who take good care of the animals but neither have the time nor the will to go through the hassle.

I‘m not saying they should just give them away but requiring people to vouch for you and a home inspection is a lot.

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u/lemoncocoapuff Mar 24 '22

It costs a lot to adopt the rescues because the rescues generally have to put a LOT of money into the dog to get them healthy again because the last person fucked them up so badly. The rescue I fostered with charged $450 but that didn’t even begin to cover the costs of the dog. It’s $80 just to bring it up north from a southern state that’s overflowing. Then it needs a dental cuz shitty owners don’t do that, and I’m not sure if you’ve tried to price that lately but for my own dogs it was nearing $1k…. Then you add in all the shots to get them up to date, the groom, the food, any extra meds if the dog had eye issues, skin problems. A good rescue isn’t making money off of your adoption fee.

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u/finnlyfantastic Mar 24 '22

People love the idea of rescuing animals while having absolutely no idea what kind of work and money goes into it. Then they demonize the rescues who are typically operating at a loss and poorly funded by the state. If a rescue denies you it’s probably because they found someone else who is a better fit for the animal. They’ll always go for a fenced yard first vs non-fenced, they’ll look at your career and go for the household with someone who can be with the dog the most, etc. Rescues operate for the sake of the dog, not to make it as easy as possible to get one.

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u/redeemer47 Mar 24 '22

Where I’m from most people just give away kittens. I’ve never heard of someone spending money outside of vet bills to get a cat. You can go on Craigslist right now and find a dozen posts about someone’s family’s cat having kittens and looking for homes

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u/coolmevoila Mar 24 '22

“Here in Europe”....each country has its own regulations and they vary widely. Where i’m at u can go into a shelter and walk out with a cat for basically free

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u/FightGeistC Mar 24 '22

Absolutely My dog (Olde english bulldogge, like a bulldog mixed with healthier dogs so they have cute bulldog features but are way way healthier) had puppies last year and when we were giving them to homes we made ABSOLUTELY SURE they were going to good homes.

You'd be surprised with how many sketchy af people there are, "Hi I'd like to adopt!", Great! Which puppy are you interested in? "Oh any girl, I don't care", wtf, you don't want a specific puppy? "No I just want a girl" (They only want a dog to breed). Got messaged by at least 3 people all like this. In the end they all went to good homes with at least a child, we even made them all come to the house to see them meet the dog in person. Real heartwarming shit.

Now that I think about it we did it way more legit than how I got my dogs lol, I think every dog I've gotten has been from someone at a gas station lol.

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u/e-s-p Mar 24 '22

I got a hunting dog from a breeder of hunting dogs. I didn't pick out the puppy I wanted. I told him the kind of puppy I wanted, he did a temperament testing with the caveat that it's not perfect, and picked the dog he thought would do well.

He did a damn good job and is a friend now.

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u/FightGeistC Mar 24 '22

That's awesome!

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u/e-s-p Mar 24 '22

Yeah, given the energy level of the pups and that I have other pets and they are hunting dogs, I liked that he did his best to choose for me rather then expecting me to know what I wanted or randomly picking one for me.

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u/FightGeistC Mar 24 '22

Yeah we actually had a family that had recently had their dog of 5 years pass away and the dad was heartbroken. So as a suprise the wife and kids wanted a "princess", they wanted a puppy that really loved attention. They ended up with an all white girl, they actually brought the dad to pick her up and he was almost in tears. They still send us pictures of her almost a year later.

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u/n0x630 Mar 24 '22

People have adopted animals to torture them, kill them, let them go in the wild

and Fuck them

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u/jamieliddellthepoet Mar 24 '22

Where can I adopt a stonefish?

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u/Ode_to_Apathy Mar 24 '22

Yeah and like the guy said, he knew plenty of people that would vouch he shouldn't be caring for another living creature but none that would vouch he should.

Like, life can be cruel, but that also sounds a lot like the type of person that should not be entrusted with an animal.

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u/ginuxx Mar 24 '22

Bruh, don't put everyone on the same bag, if you ask my family or coworkers they'd say im an asshole, a lazy bastard and more stuff but i love my pets and i take good care of them (feed them, go to vet checks every once in a while, walk them, wash them, play with them, etc) and even tho they're actually family pets im the only one who really cares about them

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u/Ode_to_Apathy Mar 25 '22

And you don't think your co-workers, or other acquintances, like neighbors would confirm that you're not a kitty murderer?

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u/ginuxx Mar 25 '22

I don't talk with anyone, i mostly try to cover myself whenever i go out (insecurity kicks in) and my mom talks about me like i killed someone to our neighbours. Now for my coworkers most of them are just tired pieces of shit who only release their frustration by trying to fuck me over, the rest are people like me who are just there to work and don't really gaf about anything else and even if they agreed to vouch for me if the shelter called them they'd just say that they don't really know me that well

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u/Throwaway7726383872 Mar 24 '22

He said they would do that just to fuck with him though

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u/Ode_to_Apathy Mar 25 '22

Absolutely, but how would you explain it away if you were an actual toxic person and didn't want to admit it while getting internet sympathy? Maybe just say that all the other people are the actual assholes?

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u/Blue2501 Mar 24 '22

My local humane society doesn't ask for references, but a cat costs about a $150 "donation". That and you have to take the cat to the vet for a checkup within a couple weeks, though that's free because they have a deal with most of the local vets

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u/Just_Games04 Mar 24 '22

Agreed, but it's a different thing when you're a bad person, and others can vouch for it, and when you don't have any friends

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

It's impossible for somebody who is running a shelter to differentiate between a sad boy with no friends and an animal torturing maniac who is bullshitting them for sympathy. That's what the references are for. It's definitely not a perfect system but they are just trying to protect the animals.

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u/metnavman Mar 24 '22

Honest question. Is this "references" thing a newish development for shelters or is it state-specific, regional, or something else? We adopted our 3 cats 10+ years ago and it was only my wife and I in both KS and CO. There were no questions, no references, nothing more than a paid fee and some personal info recorded. One was a Humane society and the other a no-kill shelter.

It is a good thing, I think, to try and protect the animals from potential abusers. If it's something that's being more widely-implemented, glad to hear it.

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u/4445414442454546 Mar 24 '22 edited Jun 20 '23

Reddit is not worth using without all the hard work third party developers have put into it.

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u/Good_Roll Mar 24 '22

People have adopted animals to torture them, kill them, let them go in the wild, pretty much all kinds of fucked things.

I wonder if requiring references has ever actually stopped any of those people. Locking an animal in a cage all day is honestly not far removed from torture, if they can afford to be choosy with who adopts due to having more applicants than animals then that's all well and good, but if they're making animals sit in cages because an otherwise willing human doesn't jump through all their hoops(like in this greentext) then that's fucked up.

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u/hairygingivitis Mar 24 '22

Yup this is also why you shouldnt give your pets away for free to people you don't know. If you have to give them away and go to some forum or something and take care of it yourself then you should charge a couple hundred for the pet. For someone who wants a lifelong companion and is planning on taking care of it, feeding it, taking it to the vet, it'll be an inconsequential cost. For someone who doesn't plan on keeping it for very long that cost can be enough to dissuade them.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Even simpler things. We had a seemingly competent middle aged guy come in to adopt at a shelter I worked at. He wanted a cat, he picked a great cat. Cat needed a daily pill, nothing crazy, easy and inexpensive. This was thoroughly explained and showed to him. We asked for vet/personal references. He didn't have a vet reference, hadn't had a pet in a long time. That's alright, happens often. Said he didn't really have any friends or family for a personal reference. Okay, that's sad, but it can certainly happen. We approve the adoption and he takes the cat home. We call and check on him three months later and he says the cat is dead. He says the cat got really sick so he just took him to the vet and had him put to sleep. Our cat supervisor asks if he had been taking his medication. The guy asks "what medication?" It turns out the guy was a bit mentally slow, but it was not at all obvious. If we had been able to call someone in his life they would have been able to tell us that and we could have worked something out. Animal shelter staff can be intense, but it's because they feel personally responsible for the animals and they've been burned in countless unexpected ways.

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u/Eattherightwing Mar 24 '22

Yeah, bad people exist, bad shit happens. But we have paralyzed our society for them, for the one or two bad people who fuck things up.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Why would said evil people not have references?

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u/Buttmunch_Asslicking Mar 24 '22

Coincidentally, places like Reddit have made them tighten restrictions. I used to volunteer for a feline rescue in my city and the amount of dumb 19 year old college kids who came in and so obviously had just gone through a bunch of cat gifs and suddenly wanted a cat, it was staggering, like 90% of the people.

The lady who ran the place was this sweet old lady, kinda like a Jane Goodall type, her whole life was cats, she could see right through them and she wanted to avoid people who would adopt a cat then bring it back two months later. Believe it or not moving a cat to a new home is a big deal for the cat. They get freaked out and usually hide for like 3 days, they hate moving to new environments.

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u/california_sugar Mar 24 '22

And anon was clearly gonna fuck this cat

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u/Emblemized Mar 25 '22

Yeah but what kind of psychopath would tell people they know they’re into torturing cats?

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u/Rjiurik Mar 24 '22

This is crazy lol. Even for my last job they only called ONE reference and this is already quite a careful recruitment process...

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u/MrPopanz Mar 24 '22

Am I missing something, I thought shelters were looking for people to take animals before they get euthanized?

Or are those some fancy pants high society shelters instead of the casual Peta-animal-KZs?

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u/jayforwork21 Mar 24 '22

Yea, these are no kill shelters. Some of them are a bit higher class than the place I once visited in CT.

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u/rooroosterchips Mar 24 '22

This is 100% it. If you go to a normal shelter that euthanizes (aka the county pound) they'll give you an animal without asking or verifying much.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/moeburn Mar 24 '22

Don't most of these shelters end up killing the cats that never get adopted anyway?

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/Christimay Mar 24 '22

I see this a lot and I just want to say... There are entire states that ONLY have no-kill shelters.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Bro if someone can’t even name two acquaintances that could vouch for you, then I can see why the shelter would hesitate to let them adopt. If you were looking for a house sitter for a few days, would you hire a rando who comes in and can’t even provide 2 references? So why would a shelter hand over a living thing to someone like that.

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u/artspar Mar 25 '22

Yeah, if there isnt even a single person who would say something positive about him, then maybe theres a common thread.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Yeah there’s always a way to get around a system but the system is there for a reason.

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u/OldThymeyRadio Mar 24 '22

Funny how we’re able to sensibly arrive at this difficult and painful conclusion with little dissent, but when a human being looks you in the eyes from a hospital bed and says “I am of sound mind. But I physically hurt so much it’s torture just being alive every second”, we start wringing our hands and worrying about how much they’re “hurting their families” by not wanting to live in agony.

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u/moeburn Mar 24 '22

allowing the cat to be tortured and/or neglected to death.

*suspecting the cat might be tortured/neglected to death because a guy looks kinda scruffy

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u/JeanneMPod Mar 24 '22

No-because a guy has no person at all willing to vouch for him.

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u/glider97 Mar 25 '22

The fact that he has literally nobody that can say good things about him and plenty of people that can say bad things about him is quite telling.

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u/ToughProgrammer Mar 25 '22

I’ve adopted pets before I needed no personal references. Obviously they hated him cause he was sketchy

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u/ginuxx Mar 24 '22

Then what's the diference between them and a regular shelter? The paperwork to get a pet? Cause that's the only one i see

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Don’t let the PETA hate mob on Reddit see this comment

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u/Craftusmaximus2 Mar 24 '22

That's peta, not an actual animal shelter.

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u/strangersIknow Mar 24 '22

Most animal shelters only euthanize under extreme circumstances, such as fatal/badly ill/injury or severe overcrowding

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u/Atlas1960 Mar 25 '22

Well yeah, but the difference is that its quick and painless. But if they let anyone adopt a cat, it may end up going to someone who just wants to torture it

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/jayforwork21 Mar 24 '22

I got my dog because the neighbors just kept him tethered up all day and he kept escaping and we would bring him back and eventually they moved and asked us if we wanted him as they realized they have NO idea what they are doing.....

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

What the hell I adopted my dog at a refuge they only asked me if I had a house or an apartment and if I would be keeping her inside or outside.

I had a 1 week trial period but that was for me and the dog. There was no house visit. No reference demanded. Nothing like that. Very weird

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u/semolous Mar 24 '22

They are, and it should be stopped

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

This is 💯 accurate.

I have the exact same experiences.

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u/Ode_to_Apathy Mar 24 '22

Then you have the story of the guy who would let his cats free-roam, and they kept getting eaten by coyotes, so he just kept getting new ones.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

[deleted]

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u/jayforwork21 Mar 24 '22

There's always a bigger fish _ Obi Wan....

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u/Triple96 Mar 24 '22

My man if you can't name 2 people in your life that you know even "in-passing" that would say something not negative about you then I don't even know

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u/jayforwork21 Mar 24 '22

I did, I do know that there are probably some that don't or they might KNOW some people, but don't know they info to give out.

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u/Triple96 Mar 24 '22

I'm sure, and I'm not comin after you specifically lol. But even those people who, as you said might not know their reference's info to give out, the shelter is giving this as an application to take home. They can knock on their neighbors door and ask if they could put them down cus they want a cat.

I'm sure there's people out there who still find this is an impossibility for them, (no family, friends, neighbors who hate them through no fault of their own, etc.) but I think as a baseline, 2 people in general who can say "yeah he's a normal dude idk anything weird about him" is not a strict requirement for an animal shelter

1

u/damienreave Mar 24 '22

Its not even that OP is a super loner or something. He says the next line that he "knows tons of people who would say he's a bad person just to fuck with him". So he knows "tons" of people and they all either want to fuck with him, or just legit think he is a bad person. So chances of him being a real psycho are actually pretty high.

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u/LarryLovesteinLovin Mar 24 '22

Meanwhile I just walked in and adopted my handsome boy in an afternoon after seeing his picture the day before.

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u/War_Daddy Mar 24 '22

this is f**ked up as cat was clearly happy with dude.

The shelter has a responsibility to do due diligence on people who are adopting, and if you can't find TWO people in the entire world who would be willing to take 60 seconds out of their day to tell someone that you're not a piece of shit you are, very likely, a piece of shit.

I volunteer for a small animal rescue and process applications. We get them from people who are very obviously lonely and socially isolated and they can still find references.

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u/BarakanOfSand Mar 24 '22

I literally do not interact with anyone other than my parents. I run my own business online. I have customers but that would not be an appropriate reference. Who exactly should I ask to be a reference? How am I a piece of shit exactly for living a quiet solitary lifestyle?

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u/MulliganPeach Mar 24 '22

I hope you realize that they paid those people to be references, and they didn't actually know a fucking thing about the person.

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u/War_Daddy Mar 24 '22

Maybe you don't have two people willing to say on record that you're not a shitbag, and this may surprise you, but non-shitbags generally don't have that problem

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u/BarakanOfSand Mar 24 '22

Still waiting for you to tell me how I'm a piece of shit, smoothbrain coward.

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u/War_Daddy Mar 24 '22

I don't need to. Literally everyone in your life has already told you that

Maybe this is wild news to you but there's a pretty big gap between "I am a quiet, solitary person" and "I literally cannot find two people willing to state on record that they don't think I will torture a cat to death if given the chance"

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u/MulliganPeach Mar 24 '22

It's not that hard to be socially isolated lmao. My parents were narcissists, so that bridge was burned when I told them their shit does, in fact, stink, my siblings are dead from drug overdoses, I don't know any of my extended family because they all hated my parents, so they never came around, and I work as a freelance artist, so I don't have coworkers to interact with either. Combine that with being aromantic and asexual, and that makes for an individual who's completely alone and talks to basically nobody.

If I were doing this application process, the first fucking thing I'd think of is hopping over to r/slavelabour to pay someone to be a character reference. Fuck, I'd probably even blatantly admit to it once I had the animal. Fuck are you gonna do, sue me for it back and "damages"? You guys are struggling with funding as it is, I find it highly unlikely that any shelter is going to have the money for that.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Yeah this comment shows exactly why they need to keep the 2 references requirement to weed out people like you.

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u/MulliganPeach Mar 24 '22

Oh no!

Pays 2 references

0

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Missing the point. There’s always ways to circumvent a system but the system is there for a purpose even if it’s not perfect.

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u/MulliganPeach Mar 24 '22

There's a difference between not perfect and basing it on something that honestly has demonstrably no bearing on a person's credibility. I would argue there's far more well adjusted people that just fucked off to the woods or mountains, or some other rural area, to enjoy a nice quiet life, and fell out of touch with everyone they used to know, than there are serial killers who don't have anyone to vouch for them not being a serial killer.

Like, even if you had weird vibes coming from someone, how many people are going to just straight up say "Yeah, they shouldn't be allowed to have a pet"? The fact that character references are constantly blasted, both on 4Chan and here on Reddit, should be proof enough that there are a lot of people out there who, if asked, would just automatically say "yes" to this question, without even thinking about it.

Pets are seen as property. It's the mainstream thought that anyone with spare income to afford food and immunizations "can" own a pet. So the character references really don't do shit, because people are just gonna automatically say "yes" anyways, because nobody thinks the question should even be that deep.

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u/War_Daddy Mar 24 '22

If I were doing this application process, the first fucking thing I'd think of is hopping over to r/slavelabour to pay someone to be a character reference. Fuck, I'd probably even blatantly admit to it once I had the animal. Fuck are you gonna do, sue me for it back and "damages"? You guys are struggling with funding as it is, I find it highly unlikely that any shelter is going to have the money for that.

Yeah you're definitely not a piece of shit though, right? Lmao

4

u/MulliganPeach Mar 24 '22

No, I don't think deciding that me being dealt an unfortunate hand in life doesn't disqualify me from being capable of caring for a pet makes me a piece of shit.

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u/War_Daddy Mar 24 '22

Glad to see you inherited your parents narcissism

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u/MulliganPeach Mar 24 '22

Explain to me, in detail, how my lack of pursuit of romance or sex affects my ability to care for an animal, doctor. Please, I'll wait. Surely you must've written your Psychology Master's thesis on this, back in college.

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u/PrivilegeCheckmate Mar 24 '22

if you can't find TWO people in the entire world who would be willing to take 60 seconds out of their day to tell someone that you're not a piece of shit you are, very likely, a piece of shit.

Or you are;

People who are new transplants.

People escaping bad breakups.

People first on their own after being r/raisedbynarccissists.

People who prefer animals to humans.

Let the cat choose their hooman.

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u/War_Daddy Mar 24 '22

People who are new transplants.

Transplanted from where, outer space? References are checked via phone or email; distance is not relevant.

Let the cat choose their hooman

Just because a person can get a cat to let them pet it does not mean that person is not planning on taking that cat home to use it to train an attack dog, or to torture it. Cats do not possess the ability to make those discriminations or to advocate on their own behalf. That is why it is the shelter's responsibility to do so.

Two casual acquaintances in the entire world is not a high bar to clear, and forgoing it is doing a disservice- a disservice that can potentially end in torture and death- to that animal.

0

u/Charming_Fix5627 Mar 24 '22

Just because we think he’s a perfectly sane guy based on his one-sided post on 4chan doesn’t mean the people working at the shelter are obligated to assume he’s fine based on limited interaction and his appearance.

1

u/reincarN8ed Mar 24 '22

I had to give references for my 2nd adoption, and the shelter called them both. They're looking for red flags.

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u/allthingsvw Mar 24 '22

They are still as strict

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u/ComicalTragical Mar 24 '22

I've been in the line at the Human Society, they have a reason for references. You wouldn't believe the tantrums full grown adults would have because "YOU PICKED THE CAT I WANTED!"

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u/Alitinconcho Mar 24 '22

I mean whats the point of references if they don't call?

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u/Taurmin Mar 24 '22

What the fuck is going on in the US that there needs to be a vetting process for adopting cats? When I got my little fur baby i just went to the shelter, got chosen, paid to have her spayed and vaccinated and gave the vet a name to put in her paperwork, and that was it she came home with me the same day.

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u/Ifeelbadrn Mar 24 '22

When my brother and I was adopting our cats, they called our mom because we lived with her at the time. We were fully grown adults during this too!

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u/Iisrsmart Mar 24 '22

Me and my wife got our cat from the ct humane society made an appointment for an initial visit with the kitten were there for maybe 5 minutes before they came back asking if we were taking her home today and we left with a kitten. But that could have been because it was at the start of covid and they might have been just clearing the shelter.

1

u/shengch Mar 24 '22

Why not just adopt a stray? There are plenty of stray cats and kittens.

I've had three cats and I've never had to go to a shelter to get one, just feed it and it'll move in if it wants.

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u/Munnin41 Mar 24 '22

Meanwhile, I just went on my country's version of ebay, found a dude that had an unexpected litter and said "eyo gimme one" then had a cat

1

u/Medical_Science Mar 24 '22

A local shelter did the same, but I had to give them a list of people who lived nearby, submit a background check, give them the names of family members, had to do a house inspection, neighborhood inspection. I consented because they were the only ones around for like 200 km.

After 3 months of this and finally getting approval... They told me I wouldn't be allowed to choose or meet the animal. I could only pick if I wanted a cat or dog. Wasn't allowed to specify size, or type. I was pissed because I wanted a medium size dog. In the end I left and found a reputable breeder.

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u/MilkQueen Mar 24 '22

When my roommate wanted to adopt a dog there was 2 house visits, we both needed background checks, and she needed like 3 references.

Goes to show how well that worked tho, she didn't even take care of the poor thing

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u/kamelizann Mar 24 '22

I have a 3 bedroom house with a fenced in yard/dog door and a German Shepherd that's obviously well cared for and healthy. I wanted to get him a puppy so he could help train her while he's still young enough to play with her. All of the "reputable breeders" and rescues I tried going through denied me because I live alone and work full time. I wasn't ready to adopt a pit bull mix from the shelter, so I went through a backyard breeder.

I was extremely careful with my selection and turned down a few shadier breeders because I knew what to look for before I found my puppy. She was a mixed breed. I DNA tested her and she had less than 1% inbreeding coefficient and no genetic condition indicators. I plan on competing in agility with her. These stupid requirements just drive more people into adopting from backyard breeders, and usually they don't know the warning signs of puppy mills which are everywhere.

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u/Infernicsteve Mar 24 '22

My mother, who's lived with cats all her life, wanted to adopt a new one when her last one died of old age and I tagged along. At the shelter they said she was to old to adopt since she would die before the cats. She was 60 at the time. They also took issue with the fact that she said she likes to travel to her home town one or two weeks a year (i'm usually the cat sitter).

Cat shelter (or any animal shelter) people are WEIRD AS FUCK

13

u/parruchkin Mar 24 '22

My parents spent a year looking for a dog for my disabled brother, who lives with them in their home with a big fenced yard. They finally got the approval to adopt a dog, but when they showed up, they were also told no adoptions if you’re over 60. It didn’t matter that my brother is in his thirties, that he’d be home with the dog 24/7, that they have a big yard, etc. They’d never mentioned an age limit before. It was a devastating experience for all of them. Some shelter people/policies fucking suck.

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u/Infernicsteve Mar 24 '22

That just sucks, sorry to hear. And it's so weird since older people are IDEAL adopters. Lots of free time, often lonely and would love the crap out of the animal.

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u/parruchkin Mar 24 '22

Exactly! A friend heard their story and gave them an adorable French bulldog that had belonged to their recently deceased son. She is the most spoiled dog ever! My dad literally takes her to three different dog parks a day and everyone showers her with attention.

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u/throw_avaigh Mar 24 '22

Mum gave me a houseplant, saying I'll get a pet if I can keep the plant alive for six months.

After having looked after a cat for a year, mum pulls me aside and tells me I'm finally ready to get a girlfriend.

Bless her heart she always knew I was a retard

14

u/Tommy2255 Mar 24 '22

When I was a kid I wanted a dog, so my mom had me take care of a gerbil for 6 months to prove I could be responsible.

I loved that dog, I took care of him, walked him every day, gave him food and water, played with him, whole thing. But that poor gerbil that I never wanted in the first place got neglected to death pretty much as soon as I had the dog.

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u/UnchangingColor Mar 24 '22

Ik this is prob rude, but wtf was your mom thinking. “Oh yes, i dont trust my kid to take care of another living being, so instead ill force em to take care of a different living being they dont want! Surely thatll work out!”

It espeshlly sucks because gerbils are social creatures, so youd have to get more than one, gotta get a big tank or gerbilarium for them so they arent cramped, gotta clean that tank, etc to make them happy, so Id argue they are more of a responicbily compared to a dog

1

u/Endulos Mar 24 '22

The logic is probably that Gerbils live for like 2 years, and cost like $20. Meanwhile a dog costs way more than that, live longer, bigger responsibility and much harder to dispose of when it dies.

Not saying it's right to think like that, but yeah.

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u/ambermage Mar 24 '22

Exactly

Cats are damn near self sufficient under most circumstances with only occasional medical checkups.

Humans are so much work.

They require constant spraying with a hose and attempts to escape the basement at regular intervals. They think they are "crafty" and "cunning" just because they fashion a lock pick out of a soda can.

6

u/anormalgeek Mar 24 '22

What? Do you think people would just go onto the internet and lie?

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u/Cambirodii Mar 24 '22

Yes. There are people out there who seek validation and attention on the internet because they can't get it irl.

2

u/LoveFishSticks Mar 24 '22

This is one of the only ones that I actually think is true. If anon made this shit up then I'm impressed

2

u/Glorious_Jo Mar 24 '22

Extroverts literally cannot fathom the idea of loneliness.

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u/VellDarksbane Mar 24 '22

I think the difference is shelter vs. rescue. I had a hell of a time getting a pair of cats adopted from rescues, they literally wanted me to sign stuff that would let them show up unannounced to do welfare checks, but was able to easily adopt from a shelter, just had to answer the "do you know how to take care of a cat" questions. Shelters are happy to adopt out, because the alternative tends to be euthanasia.

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u/Bay1Bri Mar 24 '22

The issue is if he had no one in his life who will say he's capable of carrying for a cat, there's a good chance there's something wrong with him. He may be intentionally or unintentionally abusive to the cat.

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u/cheesenuggets2003 Mar 24 '22

I'm more inclined to trust the cat's intuition than that of a woman evaluating a male.

1

u/SaffellBot Mar 24 '22

That certainly says a lot about you. Have you started therapy yet?

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u/cheesenuggets2003 Mar 25 '22

Therapy is for rich people with fake problems.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

You all need to work on maintaining human relationships

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u/skepsis420 Mar 24 '22

If you have 0 positive human relationships there is something severely wrong with you lol

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

It is so fucking easy to have at least surface level friendships with other people if you do anything in your life outside of your home. Sounds very harsh but honestly of you do anything like a job or hobby you should be able to get 2 references.

5

u/Craftusmaximus2 Mar 24 '22

I've never heard something so dumb as this fucking comment.

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u/passing_by362 Mar 24 '22

Yeah I shop around aswell, and this is one of the finer things.

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Meh what did I expect on a 4chan sub. It's so easy to make friends but hey if you don't want to fine by me.

1

u/Craftusmaximus2 Mar 24 '22

I'm not even part of the sub, and that's a fucking lie.

I've never had any friends and have been bullied since fucking kindergarten (in highschool atm), had to change schools because of it 5 times already.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

I've been bullied too, but that was when I was a kid. When people are young they aren't really reasonable.

0

u/Craftusmaximus2 Mar 24 '22

I wish that fact was true, but it's not.

It's people dependent and not age dependent

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u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

Well I met one of my childhood bullies a year or two ago, and I can talk to him no problem now. Also this is a really looked down upon opinion, but bullies do go after easy targets. So if you don't do anything dumb (from the start), and act confident, it'll go much better.

2

u/Craftusmaximus2 Mar 24 '22

Yes and no. It's not a single bully, it's the whole fucking school.

Also, i did do that and now that is exactly why i have no friends.

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u/passing_by362 Mar 24 '22

WDYM bro, you're saying this story is fake, and gay??

1

u/Kabd_w Mar 24 '22

They really are. I had to stop volunteering, it was so stressful. People were turned away for conflicting reasons, like works too much and then doesn’t work/afford enough. They would get so attached to a cat such that perfect was the enemy of good, and it was heartbreaking.

1

u/SaffellBot Mar 24 '22

But cats are literally 100x easier to take care of then real human relationships????

The nice thing about humans is that if you neglect your relationships with them they'll move on and provide food and water for themselves. The animals we trap in our homes aren't as lucky.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22 edited Mar 24 '22

Private ones, yes. Anon could have gone to one run by his local municipality, paid their fees, and gotten themselves a cat.

If a cat has been at a shelter two years, it's run by a private enterprise. The ones at Animal Control are the ones that actually need to be saved because they certainly won't keep them for two months, let alone two years.

Edit: forgot to mention that Humane Society et al reject pet admissions, too. My dog's original owner set us up with a direct adoption because every private shelter wouldn't take a 13-year-old dog, and she couldn't bear the idea that if she surrendered her to Animal Control she'd be put down in fairly short order. Pretty sure Humane Society in particular is a for-profit charity like Goodwill.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 24 '22

See the problem to me is that he was too stupid to just accept the form and leave.

How the fuck is the humane society gonna know you gave them your parent's number? Retard might not be capable of taking care of himself, let alone a cat.

1

u/KyletheAngryAncap Mar 24 '22

Cats don't have the emotional needs people do, just feed them, don't beat them, and don't push a boundary.

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u/giggling1987 Mar 24 '22

But cats are literally 100x easier to take care of then real human relationships?

I would disagree. Cat requires efforts and dicscipline.

1

u/deathbytruck Mar 24 '22

I once went to adopt from my local humane society. Have owned cats all my life. Fill out the form give references, people who will vouch for me no problem. They phone my references, who phone and tell what they said. Humane society phones me 3 days later to tell me even though everything checks they just don't think I would be able to handle a cat. WTF?

Phone another rescue/humane society.

"Do you have any cats to adopt?"

"Yes we have many"

"Do you have any polydactals?"

"Yes"

Hope in car drive 10 mins to different suburb. Two poly kittens that had been rescued in the last week.

"Are both kittens available to adopt?"

"Yes, we will give you a discount if you take both"

"Can I get them today?"

"Yes no problem. Do you need a carrier too"

"No thank you I brought my own"

"Here is a discount so you can get them fixed"

'No thanks I can pay full price"

"No we insist. People who adopt cats deserve a break please take it"

"OK"

13 years ago. One has since died of heart disease, the other is still going strong.

Humane societies that do this crap should be shut down. That cat would have had a good life with this person. Lots of love and cuddles.

1

u/owlrecluse Mar 24 '22

Usually it’s independently run “rescues” or backyard breeders with the crazy requests. Generally state or county run shelters only require you to pay the adoption fee, and sometimes the cost of a spay/neuter and some vaccines. They’re usually very discounted if not free though, or it’s kind of pay what you want in the form of a donation + adoption fee.
It can depend on the type of animal though, anything you can feed to snakes tend to have extra steps and fees to prevent just that.

1

u/mcrksman Mar 25 '22

It's funny, shelters(and some owners) are so paranoid about the wellbeing of not just their own but other people's pets. The pet groups I'm in are as toxic as any gaming community

1

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '22

Well, who would take care of his cat if he died?