Letter to HOPE in Sugar Land

This is an email I felt needed to be sent on the evening of the Fourth
of July, 2006 after my wife was brought to tears during an "interview"
by a HOPE representative after we had applied to adopt a cute little 2
year old Chihuaha/Pug mix we met at Pet Co.

Here's our email made public:
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi

I would just like to say that you folks made my wife cry this evening
when you called.
The person who called was rude and uncaring to what my wife tried to
relay to her. We really thought you folks had the animals in mind and
not your own agenda. I am so mad... no one causes my wife to cry
without some kind of reply. If your representative can't understand
that we would like a new boy to join our family... to help our
geriatric boy have some much needed stimulation... while we somehow
find a way to deal with the inevitable with a new love and some new
energy in our house... then you obviously are not caring animal lovers.

Thank you... but we will not be contributing to your organization any
more... because you obviously do not have the animal's best interest
in mind.

We are... and have always been loving, involved and concerned pet
owners... but that didn't seem to matter to your representative.

CAP (that we met through Pet Smart) has proven to be a much more open
and understanding organization... and we will continue to visit their
facility weekly until we find the family member we have been looking
for. They seem to have the animal's best interest in mind.

We hope Toto is someday adopted, we really liked the little guy... too
bad your representative had to put my wife to tears for us to find that
you're public interface is overly convoluted, cruel and mean. I was a
Psych major in college and this was pretty classic stuff. Apparently
it's all about power for you people... and not the animals. Why do
you even bring them to Pet Co for possible adoption?

What is your problem? Were we not white enough? Or rich enough? We can
only hope the best for the animals in your care.

Happy Fourth.
Please don't email us back.
Kirk and Pam

BTW calling on the evening of what has been an all day family-filled
holiday with barbeque and brew (and fireworks to come) was extremely
bad timing. Did you folks expect us to be prepared for the type of
"interrogation" my wife was subjected to?
Shame on you.

wrote in message

> This is an email I felt needed to be sent on the evening of the Fourth
> of July, 2006 after my wife was brought to tears during an "interview"
> by a HOPE representative after we had applied to adopt a cute little 2
> year old Chihuaha/Pug mix we met at Pet Co.
>
> Here's our email made public:
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Hi
>
> I would just like to say that you folks made my wife cry this evening
> when you called.
> The person who called was rude and uncaring to what my wife tried to
> relay to her. We really thought you folks had the animals in mind and
> not your own agenda. I am so mad... no one causes my wife to cry
> without some kind of reply. If your representative can't understand
> that we would like a new boy to join our family... to help our
> geriatric boy have some much needed stimulation... while we somehow
> find a way to deal with the inevitable with a new love and some new
> energy in our house... then you obviously are not caring animal lovers.
>
> Thank you... but we will not be contributing to your organization any
> more... because you obviously do not have the animal's best interest
> in mind.
>
> We are... and have always been loving, involved and concerned pet
> owners... but that didn't seem to matter to your representative.
>
> CAP (that we met through Pet Smart) has proven to be a much more open
> and understanding organization... and we will continue to visit their
> facility weekly until we find the family member we have been looking
> for. They seem to have the animal's best interest in mind.
>
> We hope Toto is someday adopted, we really liked the little guy... too
> bad your representative had to put my wife to tears for us to find that
> you're public interface is overly convoluted, cruel and mean. I was a
> Psych major in college and this was pretty classic stuff. Apparently
> it's all about power for you people... and not the animals. Why do
> you even bring them to Pet Co for possible adoption?
>
> What is your problem? Were we not white enough? Or rich enough? We can
> only hope the best for the animals in your care.
>
> Happy Fourth.
> Please don't email us back.
> Kirk and Pam
>
> BTW calling on the evening of what has been an all day family-filled
> holiday with barbeque and brew (and fireworks to come) was extremely
> bad timing. Did you folks expect us to be prepared for the type of
> "interrogation" my wife was subjected to?
> Shame on you.

Well, that's pretty harsh. But nowhere does it say exactly what it was that
they asked that bothered you so much. I'd be interested to know, since the
rescue groups I've worked with have received amazingly similar responses
from people who were turned down for various "horrible" reasons. Things
like wanting to adopt an outside dog, wanting to adopt an intact dog so they
could have puppies, not having a fenced yard and wanting to use invisible
fencing, having other pets with no record of veterinary care... none of
which THEY saw problems with as adopters, but which the RESCUE GROUPS saw as
major red flags...