Pet Mods

A Pet Mod is someone who deals with posts on a group relating to live animals.

Any post relating to live animals is put on HOLD (this can be a mod edit in the subject line of a message in pending) and left for the Pet Mod to deal with.

Group Guidelines

Some suggested guidelines that your group might adopt for moderators of pet posts:

1. All pet posts will be approved by the Pet Mod.

2. No wanteds or offers for animals to be used as feeder food.

3. No wanted or offers for animals to be used for breeding purposes.

4. No wanted posts for any exotic animal that requires special knowledge or care to keep them healthy unless it's from someone who has extensive experience with them. If you have questions about someone being able to care for an animal, when you reject the post ask them to tell you more about their experience and let them know you'll consider it further based on that information.

5. No Wanted posts for illegal animals, even if you think the law is foolish.

6. Possible "Pet Collectors". We've all seen them on TV. The person who has more pets than they can provide quality care for. The moderators of the group are responsible for contacting them when rejecting the post. One way to identify a "pet collector" is that it's someone who is always posting wanted for animals. Especially the ones who say things like "I'll be happy to take any animal".

7. Someone seeming to "unload" a large number of pets. Again, the Pet Mod will contact them to see what the situation is. Use good judgment when allowing the offers.

8. Finally, it is highly recommended that you visit the home of the adopter before consenting to the adoption.

As you can see, these are very common sense rules. Use your head, your heart, and your common sense and people will be pleased to work with you.

Questions for a Pet Mod

Questions a Pet Mod will ask of people offering live creatures might include:

• is the animal in good health?

• is the animal pregnant?

• has it been fully vaccinated and neutered?

• have other avenues such as animal sanctuaries been explored?

• is the animal safe? (see the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 for the UK http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/65/contents).

The RSPCA advice on unwanted pets is here - http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/helpandadvice/unwantedpets - which could be useful to give to those offering their pets in the first instance.

Back to Pets and animals