Cookie and Coco HAVE a home..stop the e-mail already
By Phyllis DeGioia
October 12, 2009
Since early this year, there’s been an e-mail floating around about two Labradors named Cookie and Coco who desperately need a home because the family lost their home to foreclosure. It began as “we’ve lost our home and need to move in two weeks” and grew to “we’re moving overseas in two weeks.” It ended with “Please, please forward these pics to all your friends.”
Yes, it’s true, Cookie and Coco needed a home. But they were placed months ago, according to Snopes, and yet the e-mail is still floating around with a frightening frequency, rending hearts wherever it goes with its heartfelt plea.
I received it two weeks ago from a friend…and this morning I received it from a rescue group. I can’t even count how many times I’ve received this post this year.
So let’s remind ourselves, in a day and age when everyone is busy and overburdened with e-mails and texts and phone calls, not to forward anything unless we’re sure it’s true. This kind of blind forwarding just wastes our time, and overall takes away some limited time that should go to pets who still need homes. Let’s help the rescue folks do their job.
We could make a whole list of these, including all the ones that were NEVER true, like Swiffer/Febreze.
Stop. Think. Delete.
Don’t forward.
Please.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — October 12, 2009 @ 5:25 pm
BRAVO!!
Comment by Barb — October 12, 2009 @ 10:48 pm
Oh, now it’s not fair to just delete every e-mail about a dog looking for a home that you get. I just placed 2 dogs this year by sending their pics to others in an e-mail. E-mail is the fastest way to reach a large number of people, and I know the beagle and the rottie mix now have good homes because of it.
Comment by KateH — October 13, 2009 @ 7:35 am
KateH, I think she was warning against forwarding automatically, without first doing a bit of checking to authenticate the information. All the “automatic forwarding” can work counter-productively to create an environment that invalidates the information. I know that when I receive a forwarded email - especially one with a long series of previous forwards - I tend to discount the information and hit “Delete”.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — October 13, 2009 @ 7:50 am
it’s funny because this is the second blog posting i’ve seen about these dogs - the other one was also a cease and desist request.
Comment by Sarah — October 13, 2009 @ 8:27 am
Nice post and good luck with that.
A local agility club webmaster, who since she has Labs, has gotten this email at least 20 times, despite three separate emails to the membership with the full details. [sigh]
Comment by Mikey — October 13, 2009 @ 9:00 am