Liber ab Familia (Book of Familiars—Condensed^1217
the argument that the animals that are already in the pet stores need homes, but the
counter to that argument is obvious. If they are in a pet store, it is because they sell well
and will find a home without your assistance. I am not telling you to boycott pet stores,
I am just asking that your actions be taken mindfully.
Although there is clearly a difference between kin familiars and kith familiars, in
choosing one’s kin familiars, one should remain loyal to the whole of its line to insure a
proper match. This is much in the same order as human adoption. Hopefully, you can
see how a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan might not be the best person to
adopt an African American child even if s/he honestly loves that child. One need only
look at the history of slavery to know that when souls are sold mainly for profit, those
sales are indiscriminant. While there is a difference between the way our society feels
about the sale of human life and the sale of critters, the principle remains the same.
The result is that generally speaking, pet stores buy and sell their product as did the
slave trade, indiscriminately.
So what does happen to the critters that pet stores do not manage to sell? Many of
them wind up further burdening one of the best kept secrets in the pet industry, the
critter rescue services. With so many Wiccans demanding secrets be revealed by au-
thors, I am surprised this one has not yet been printed. If you can think of an animal,
you can probably find that animal at little or no cost in the care of many rescue services.
As an example, a recent visit to a pet store to purchase some canned Iguana food showed
me that the going rate of a Ferret is about $150.00 in the Central Ohio area. One
search on the web using the words “ferret rescue Columbus Ohio” turns up the link to
Mid Ohio Samoyed and Ferret Adoption and Information Services.“MOSAFARI is a not for profit organization which takes in unwanted, abused,
and neglected pets, rehabilitates them, and finds them new forever homes. We
take in strays, owner surrenders, and some with health problems. We rehabili-
tate when necessary, vaccinate, and put them up for adoption after recovery
from illnesses.”—From the MOSAFARI Website
http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/OH48.html January 17, 2003
Note: This URL will soon change to http://www.morafari.orgOf course, some folk might want to adopt only healthy baby critters. But even when
that is the case, finding critters via the many rescue services is a good way to go. You
see, most rescue services realize that demand and network with reputable breeders to
help battle the hordes of unscrupulous breeders. By dealing with a reputable breeder,
you will generally pay only slightly less than pet store prices, but you will have the ad-
vantage of knowing you have remained true to the line of your new critter by not pro-
moting its exploitation. Why? Well, it is simple economics. The price of an animal in the
pet store is set by the consumer. It is roughly that which the market will bear, as much as
the store can get without lowering total income by reducing sales beyond that magickal
point of maximum profit. To meet that price with a large staff, pay the electric, buy thet WB Chap 12.p65 217 7/11/2003, 5:55 PM