This is a personally unsettling story. The other day, the continuous rain finally stopped, and I took my beloved dog for a walk for the first time in a while. That's when I found a soaking wet, severely weakened kitten. I couldn't just leave it there, so I picked it up.
I immediately took it to the vet. Although it was exhausted, its life wasn't in danger, which was a huge relief. However, while our apartment building allows pets, there is a strict limit of one per household, so I couldn't keep it. When I consulted the veterinarian, they told me about a popular foster-parent matching website. Clutching at straws, I took a look at the site...
Most of what I found were abandoned cats, strays, or semi-strays (fed by people, but not actually owned)—kittens brought into the world as a result of humans irresponsibly toying with life, all posted with photos. In this day and age, considered a paradise for pets, there were still so many cats... That alone left a bad taste in my mouth, but when I looked closer at the adoption requirements, I was stunned.
Apparently, there were many people who would pretend to be foster parents just to take in these unhoused cats and sell them off to labs for experiments, or abandon them all over again the moment they got tired of them. Because of this, there were all sorts of conditions attached to becoming a foster parent.
First, you had to promise to have the cat spayed or neutered, keep it strictly indoors, pick it up at the poster's home, live in a pet-friendly residence, and show identification. I figured these conditions might actually be necessary. But some of the requirements were much worse...
There were various rules, like "no single people" or "you must answer a questionnaire." But the most unsettling one was posted by someone who had rescued four abandoned cats. That person already had a pet cat of their own, but claimed they were allergic and couldn't keep any more. Their condition was that whoever adopted the kittens had to create a blog for them and regularly provide updates and photos to the original finder.
They didn't want to raise the cats themselves, yet they forced harsh conditions and responsibilities onto the adopters while stubbornly clinging to a sense of ownership. I was appalled by how many people acted this way.
If you want a cat and have a bit of money, you can just go to a pet shop today and immediately get a cute, purebred cat of your choice. If you don't care about pedigree papers, you wouldn't even think of doing this. Besides having to reveal your personal information (family structure, occupation, address, and even financial status) to a complete stranger, I couldn't understand why the finder felt entitled to meddle forever. Did they really have the right to demand that much just for picking up a stray?
I also had a similar experience when I found three abandoned puppies in a vacant lot in front of my house. They hadn't even been weaned yet, left in the cliché cardboard box, whimpering. I knew that if I left them alone for two or three days—or if it rained—they'd be goners. And it would break my heart to watch that happen right in front of me, so I took the three of them home. I decided I'd do my best to find them foster parents, and if that failed, I'd harden my heart and take them to the animal shelter.
Back then, I didn't use the internet, so I put up flyers with photos... Zero response. I paid 3,000 yen to post an ad in the classifieds of a local community paper delivered biweekly. That actually got some responses, and I was relieved when homes were found for all three puppies. But out of about 10 inquiries, only about 5 were normal responses from people genuinely interested in taking a puppy.
Two of them were from hysterical middle-aged women claiming to be animal rights activists. They screamed things like, "People like you are the reason poor animals never disappear! Why didn't you spay your dog? It's despicable to abandon newborns after they're born! Screeech!!" They wouldn't listen no matter how I explained the situation, and hung up after hurling abuse. (I paid for the puppies' health checkups out of my own pocket, paid the ad fee, and spent my time—why did I deserve to be treated like a monster?)
Another one was from a group calling themselves something like "The Association to Prevent Pitiful Animals," offering, "We can perform spay/neuter surgery for 5,000 yen per animal♪ There are government subsidies for that, so you won't lose out~!" The remaining two inquiries were people saying, "I want someone to take my dog, so give me the contact info of the people who contacted you (looking for a dog)."
I once told someone who had rescued an abandoned cat and was looking for a foster home, "A friend of mine is looking for a cat and really wants to adopt it." Immediately, I received a barrage of emails asking: "They live in a house they own, right? Also, what's their salary? What kind of personality do they have? Have they ever owned a cat before? If they let it die within ten years, don't complain if they get sued! And do they have savings? We can't give a cat to a poor person!!"
It was so overwhelming that I replied, "Never mind." That person turned out to be a regular on the 2ch dog and cat board. Apparently, asking for monthly income, savings, and housing status is standard practice for them, but you can't just grill a friend who has kindly offered to take in a cat with such invasive questions. My friend is a genuinely sweet person, so I couldn't bring myself to tell them about those emails. I certainly didn't want to pry into my friend's monthly income, either.
What ever happened to the kitten that the original poster found?
Regarding what happened next: I still haven't found a foster home for the kitten. Or rather, I haven't even started looking again. After moving and experiencing other changes, I've started to feel like I want to raise it myself.
When I was little, the dynamic felt like: Finder < New Owner, where the new owner was treated with gratitude. But nowadays, it's Poster > New Owner. When posters act all high and mighty, writing things like, "After a strict screening process, we will select the adopter," it just...
It feels like the people posting these ads are the ones disrespecting life the most. The uneasy feeling in my chest just won't go away.
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