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Things that make your day
By Gina Spadafori
August 21, 2007
I just had the most incredibly wonderful phone call. From a young man, maybe 8? 9? 10? Hard to say from his voice, but he was researching — researching! — for information before getting a pet. Before getting a pet, I emphasize, and further emphasize how many grown and supposedly mature adults don’t do half as much work as this kid is doing.
He wants some kind of amphibian. He told me the exact species, but I’m not that up on herps, aside from the handful of most popular ones. So, I was able to refer him to Kingsnake.com (one of the PetHobbyist.com sites, which Christie edits) and to Anapsid.org, another great source for reptile and amphibian information. He wrote them all down, and then thanked me, politely.
So get this: So much cruelty to animals, often by teens, sometimes even younger kids. And this wonderful young man says to me, “I want to make sure I know how to take care of my pet before I get him.”
Yep, that kind of thing makes a pet-writer’s day. Not to mention, we just turned in a newspaper column that covered where to find help online with herp questions.
Any day you get asked for help by a young person like this … well, it gives you hope for the future. That’s one kid who’s not going to grow up a dog-fighter, you can sure bet.
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Gina, I hope you don’t mind if I send a note to your young friend. (I sure hope he reads this!)
Congratulations!! You’re a pretty smart kid, and the kind that other pet people admire. Thank you for doing what you can to learn all you can about the pet you want before you get it. I wish more people (kids and adults) would do that. I’m guessing you’ll be a great pet owner :)
Comment by Therese — August 21, 2007 @ 6:29 pm
Gina may not be suprised to hear about pet store owners calling the wholesaler to ask how to take care of an animal AFTER they had already ordered and received it. Especially herps.
What good news to hear about this young man. He’ll make a great advocate for pets.
Comment by kb — August 22, 2007 @ 2:12 pm