A question for animal rescuers.

The question is: "What is your role as an animal rescuer?" This question came about after I came across three incidents, and they made me wonder if the rescuers like me  - particularly in Malaysia - are saving animals the right way. The first one was this:

Last week I helped a fellow dog rescuer to put up an adoption advertisement on http://www.petfinder.com.my/ for two female dogs she had rescued. Two days later, I got a missed call from a landline telephone, and immediately followed by a sms which read "I am interested to view the dogs, Sally and Brownie - Mak". This sms and the previous call are related, as you will later know.

I then called the handphone number and this Mak asked to see the dogs. He said these dogs will be taken in as guard dogs for a factory. He asked how old they were. Did Mr Chia call me earlier? (which explains the missed call). He said Mr Chia asked him to "look into it". I concluded that Mr Chia was the boss. The instruction for someone to "look into it" made me put out a red flag. I then mentioned something which immediately put him off. It was said in a matter-of-fact way. I said that the dogs are spayed. "Oh, then I don't want to view them. We actually want them to mate with a male dog that we have here. He is kind of unique in its color composition. We thought we could breed some puppies out of them".

Another incident is actually related to this dog rescuer. She has been doing it regularly - including vaccination, spaying / neutering - but the issue is that if she can't find homes for these dogs, she releases them back to their original habitat. She acknowledges that the only danger the dogs face are the dog catchers. But at least there is less reproduction of dogs.

The third example involves all animal rescuers. After looking at Petfinder and some websites of the dog rescuers, I see that - in a desperation to get the dogs adopted - puppies below ages of 5 months old are advertised as ready to be adopted even before they are  vaccinated and spayed/neutered. However, my concern is the spaying / neutering because sterilization keeps new strays off the streets. These individuals will say that they follow up with the owners to make sure the dogs are sterilized once they reach a suitable age ie 5 months and above. I would like to know how successful are these rescuers in achieving this objective.

I understand the rescuers' noble intentions of giving homes to the dogs. They will say that even if they can't get the owners to sterilize the dogs, at least they have a home. What if the owners decide to give up on the dog? I experienced such a scenario. Nacho -one of five pups I found two years ago - was adopted by a middle-class family from Kuantan (300 km from Kuala Lumpur). It was fated that I happened to be at PAWS on the day the family came to look for a pet dog. They took a liking to Nacho, who was 4 months old at that time. And it was a coincidence that I would be going to Kuantan for a business trip in two weeks. I told them of my trip, and asked if I could drop by to see Nacho. They didn't mind, and in two weeks, I got to see Nacho. In addition, I forged a new friendship with this family. However, three months later I got a call from them that they were going to drive down to PAWS to return Nacho. He has been too mischievous and uncontrollable in the house, and has destroyed everything in sight. To cut to the chase, this is one of many examples of owners returning a dog. Out of these quantity, how many actually return the dog back to where they adopted it from. In my case, it was to PAWS - a distance of 300km. And it was plain fortunate that the family and I know each other that they took the initiative to inform me. For the record, Nacho was already neutered before he was adopted. And that was because animal shelters have a strict policy of sterilizing dogs and cats before they are adopted.

I would really like to receive comments from all animal rescuers on your role as an animal rescuer. What are your objectives? Do you release puppies for adoption before they are sterilized? Also, do you release adult cats and dogs back to the streets after all the medical attention were given to them?

I do ask myself: "When the puppies are ready for adoption at ages 5 months above - with so much competition to be adopted - will people still be interested in them, or more inclined to get a younger pup? I would then let a chance pass by for these pups." " Am I only providing half of the solution by returning adult dogs back to the streets - even after they are sterilized? I am stopping reproduction, but they are still exposed to roadkill and dog cathers."