FA+
Shop
People and petitions
10 years ago
General
"It's OK to be a glowstick. Sometimes we have to break before we can shine." - Unknown
Is it just me, or does it seem like people will make petitions for anything now?
To start off, I want to say that I have no issue with making a petition for a good cause, but just because someone is upset over something doesn't exactly make their petition a good cause.
A couple years ago, when I was a bit more active on Facebook, I decided to follow some of the local rescue groups and the local pound so I could stay informed and help by sharing the dogs that were up for adoption. One of these groups brought a petition to my attention. It was for a county in our state to stop euthanizing Pit Bulls, Rotties, and other dogs perceived as dangerous as soon as they came in the door. The county in question wasn't even giving these dogs a fair shot, based on breed and breed alone. I signed up for the site the petition was hosted on and I signed it because I strongly hate BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) and as a person who had raised two wonderfully sweet Pitties of my own, I wanted these dogs to have the same chance as any other dog that would have been there.
Fast forward to current time, I'm still a member of the petition site, just incase something I feel strongly about comes across my attention. Every few days, I get an email about a new petition that "We think you'd be interested in". Some of the Headlines on them catch my attention so I read the details and more often than not, I just end up mad. I'll share with you some examples. I'll explain below why I think each is a bit off.
1. Woman wants to sue Seaworld and she wants them to refund EVERY SINGLE TICKET since the park opened, because she believed that, despite having no testing done and no knowledge of whales (including the different species), that the whales were horribly sunburnt and the tanks were so full of chlorine that the whales eyes were burning and their vision was suffering because of it.
2. Woman wants to stop all coyote hunting in her state, claiming there is no way to have any clue about the population and that they will go extinct in the state due to a bounty on them.
3. Unknown gender wants the AKC to disallow ALL new registrations to stop puppy mills from selling "registered" dogs.
4. Young woman wants to sue facebook after ban for artistic nudity.
5. Save X animal from X zoo.
My thoughts on them:
1. How does she expect Sea World to refund tickets payed for with cash or that go that far back? This woman had NO experience with whales, no training with any form of wildlife, she was just a soccer mom who jumped to a conclusion. if anything, petition for an inspection of the park or for the park to provide samples of the water for independent testing and have someone evaluate the whales and their tanks. At the very least, petition for inspections to ensure that the care is sufficient and the whales are ok, but make it realistic and get professionals involved who know more than a random visitor.
2. Coyotes are one of the most widespread animals today. They are also one of the most adaptive. In recent years, they have spread to areas they were never seen in before and in enough numbers to get Fish and Game's attention. We've had small, remote populations of cougars here for YEARS now (my dad has followed their tracks where he hunts, and seen them himself) but Fish and Game still claims they aren't here, while the coyote wasn't even around when I was born. In the last 10 years, we've went from coyotes being a rare sight to being included on the game list with open season all year round. While there is no way to get an exact count on any population, wildlife management officials do have ways to come up with estimates, which are what they go by to determine things such as bag limits and where a species ranks on the endangered list. As for the bounty part, if your issue is with the bounty, why not petition to stop the program offering the bounty instead of ALL coyote hunting? I'd also like to point out that, from doing a little research myself, the bounty only targets areas where the mule deer population is below ideal and where bucks greatly outnumber does and fawns. gps locations are required for each coyote turned in, to monitor how many are taken from what area, as well as making sure they were in the designated area.
3. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Breeding is not a bad thing. IRRESPONSIBLE breeding is bad. There are still people out there who breed to produce healthy dogs with sound temperaments, regardless of registration clubs. While I think that the AKC could do a little more to ensure that registered dogs come from healthy stock and good breeders, they simply can't control everyone with an AKC registered dog. They also can't track down every set of forged papers. Yes, forged papers. This is an issue I saw myself with a friend who received fake registration papers and the seller disappeared on her, going as far as to change their number. There's also the issue of general ignorance among buyers. Another friend once told me they went to a "puppy farm" where you could pick out any two dogs and they would be bred so you could have a puppy. I was horrified and told her it was just a puppy mill and that was a terrible way to breed animals, but she insisted there was a difference because all the dogs were AKC registered. Its the buyers responsibility to be informed, not just on the breed, but on the sellers and what to look for, what to avoid, and what to report. If the AKC listened then there would only be two results. 1. Good breeders wouldn't be able to register pups while scam mills would continue to give out fake papers or simply to breed dogs that "could be registered at a later date". And 2. Other registration clubs would be the next targets of this petition, like UKC, ADBA, etc. Petition for logical laws that make it harder for backyard breeders or people who simply want easy money to continue breeding rather than target the registry. Our own area is trying to pass a law that will make anyone with a specified number of intact animals register for a license and submit to inspections. People simply wanting money from the pups don't want an extra expenditure and people who run mills don't want the inspections.
4. The only real issue I have with this one is the person isn't telling the whole truth. One of the comments on this particular petition had links to prove the lady wasn't banned for drawn, artistic nudity, but for the myriad of real nudity in her selfies throughout her photo albums. Selfies, not a really artistic thing there.
5. I'm all for these petitions when the animal is in some backwater "zoo" and living with a poor quality of life, but just because these animals aren't roaming free, doesn't exactly mean that they're suffering either. I always look at these because there are times where I'm appalled at some of the pictures or videos I've seen of poor zoo care, but the petitions for these are, more often than not, one of two things. 1. Some soccer mom thinks the animal looks bored and lonely, or that it sleeps all day because of depression. Or 2. Some PETA type wanting to free all the animals. I've even seen these petitions asking for entire zoos to be shut down. Sometimes they request the animal be released into the wild, sometimes to a preserve or sanctuary, but none of them really seem to think about it. I see plenty of them that say "this old guy deserves to be free" and old is accurate. But that animal has been in a zoo, very likely, its entire life and would have no idea how to survive on its own. Also, not all animals in all zoos (or in any kind of captivity for that matter) are physically able to survive without care. A center in our state has several lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, servals, etc because people bought them as exotic pets and legally couldn't have them, didn't realize what they were in for, or they escaped. There are also zoos who take in these animals and other animals from smaller zoos or sanctuaries that can't afford them anymore, or closed. Some of them were injured in the wild and never recovered enough to return to the wild, and living in a zoo is much kinder than being euthanized. Zoos typically try to keep their animals healthy, well fed, and provide things for them to do, though it may not always be in the public eye. One of these petitions I saw was particularly aggravating because the person was simply mad that their zoo had shown interest in the animal but ultimately, the animal went to a zoo with a bit more room and in a better climate for the animal.
TL;DR
Do your research (or get in touch with an expert), think things through, and target your petitions in the right direction so you don't look like an idiot.
To start off, I want to say that I have no issue with making a petition for a good cause, but just because someone is upset over something doesn't exactly make their petition a good cause.
A couple years ago, when I was a bit more active on Facebook, I decided to follow some of the local rescue groups and the local pound so I could stay informed and help by sharing the dogs that were up for adoption. One of these groups brought a petition to my attention. It was for a county in our state to stop euthanizing Pit Bulls, Rotties, and other dogs perceived as dangerous as soon as they came in the door. The county in question wasn't even giving these dogs a fair shot, based on breed and breed alone. I signed up for the site the petition was hosted on and I signed it because I strongly hate BSL (Breed Specific Legislation) and as a person who had raised two wonderfully sweet Pitties of my own, I wanted these dogs to have the same chance as any other dog that would have been there.
Fast forward to current time, I'm still a member of the petition site, just incase something I feel strongly about comes across my attention. Every few days, I get an email about a new petition that "We think you'd be interested in". Some of the Headlines on them catch my attention so I read the details and more often than not, I just end up mad. I'll share with you some examples. I'll explain below why I think each is a bit off.
1. Woman wants to sue Seaworld and she wants them to refund EVERY SINGLE TICKET since the park opened, because she believed that, despite having no testing done and no knowledge of whales (including the different species), that the whales were horribly sunburnt and the tanks were so full of chlorine that the whales eyes were burning and their vision was suffering because of it.
2. Woman wants to stop all coyote hunting in her state, claiming there is no way to have any clue about the population and that they will go extinct in the state due to a bounty on them.
3. Unknown gender wants the AKC to disallow ALL new registrations to stop puppy mills from selling "registered" dogs.
4. Young woman wants to sue facebook after ban for artistic nudity.
5. Save X animal from X zoo.
My thoughts on them:
1. How does she expect Sea World to refund tickets payed for with cash or that go that far back? This woman had NO experience with whales, no training with any form of wildlife, she was just a soccer mom who jumped to a conclusion. if anything, petition for an inspection of the park or for the park to provide samples of the water for independent testing and have someone evaluate the whales and their tanks. At the very least, petition for inspections to ensure that the care is sufficient and the whales are ok, but make it realistic and get professionals involved who know more than a random visitor.
2. Coyotes are one of the most widespread animals today. They are also one of the most adaptive. In recent years, they have spread to areas they were never seen in before and in enough numbers to get Fish and Game's attention. We've had small, remote populations of cougars here for YEARS now (my dad has followed their tracks where he hunts, and seen them himself) but Fish and Game still claims they aren't here, while the coyote wasn't even around when I was born. In the last 10 years, we've went from coyotes being a rare sight to being included on the game list with open season all year round. While there is no way to get an exact count on any population, wildlife management officials do have ways to come up with estimates, which are what they go by to determine things such as bag limits and where a species ranks on the endangered list. As for the bounty part, if your issue is with the bounty, why not petition to stop the program offering the bounty instead of ALL coyote hunting? I'd also like to point out that, from doing a little research myself, the bounty only targets areas where the mule deer population is below ideal and where bucks greatly outnumber does and fawns. gps locations are required for each coyote turned in, to monitor how many are taken from what area, as well as making sure they were in the designated area.
3. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Breeding is not a bad thing. IRRESPONSIBLE breeding is bad. There are still people out there who breed to produce healthy dogs with sound temperaments, regardless of registration clubs. While I think that the AKC could do a little more to ensure that registered dogs come from healthy stock and good breeders, they simply can't control everyone with an AKC registered dog. They also can't track down every set of forged papers. Yes, forged papers. This is an issue I saw myself with a friend who received fake registration papers and the seller disappeared on her, going as far as to change their number. There's also the issue of general ignorance among buyers. Another friend once told me they went to a "puppy farm" where you could pick out any two dogs and they would be bred so you could have a puppy. I was horrified and told her it was just a puppy mill and that was a terrible way to breed animals, but she insisted there was a difference because all the dogs were AKC registered. Its the buyers responsibility to be informed, not just on the breed, but on the sellers and what to look for, what to avoid, and what to report. If the AKC listened then there would only be two results. 1. Good breeders wouldn't be able to register pups while scam mills would continue to give out fake papers or simply to breed dogs that "could be registered at a later date". And 2. Other registration clubs would be the next targets of this petition, like UKC, ADBA, etc. Petition for logical laws that make it harder for backyard breeders or people who simply want easy money to continue breeding rather than target the registry. Our own area is trying to pass a law that will make anyone with a specified number of intact animals register for a license and submit to inspections. People simply wanting money from the pups don't want an extra expenditure and people who run mills don't want the inspections.
4. The only real issue I have with this one is the person isn't telling the whole truth. One of the comments on this particular petition had links to prove the lady wasn't banned for drawn, artistic nudity, but for the myriad of real nudity in her selfies throughout her photo albums. Selfies, not a really artistic thing there.
5. I'm all for these petitions when the animal is in some backwater "zoo" and living with a poor quality of life, but just because these animals aren't roaming free, doesn't exactly mean that they're suffering either. I always look at these because there are times where I'm appalled at some of the pictures or videos I've seen of poor zoo care, but the petitions for these are, more often than not, one of two things. 1. Some soccer mom thinks the animal looks bored and lonely, or that it sleeps all day because of depression. Or 2. Some PETA type wanting to free all the animals. I've even seen these petitions asking for entire zoos to be shut down. Sometimes they request the animal be released into the wild, sometimes to a preserve or sanctuary, but none of them really seem to think about it. I see plenty of them that say "this old guy deserves to be free" and old is accurate. But that animal has been in a zoo, very likely, its entire life and would have no idea how to survive on its own. Also, not all animals in all zoos (or in any kind of captivity for that matter) are physically able to survive without care. A center in our state has several lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, servals, etc because people bought them as exotic pets and legally couldn't have them, didn't realize what they were in for, or they escaped. There are also zoos who take in these animals and other animals from smaller zoos or sanctuaries that can't afford them anymore, or closed. Some of them were injured in the wild and never recovered enough to return to the wild, and living in a zoo is much kinder than being euthanized. Zoos typically try to keep their animals healthy, well fed, and provide things for them to do, though it may not always be in the public eye. One of these petitions I saw was particularly aggravating because the person was simply mad that their zoo had shown interest in the animal but ultimately, the animal went to a zoo with a bit more room and in a better climate for the animal.
TL;DR
Do your research (or get in touch with an expert), think things through, and target your petitions in the right direction so you don't look like an idiot.
i wanted to sign it oddly enough.
i do agree with you tho, people will make petitions about anything, most of them trying to get their money back from w/e company over something dumb.