Very good questions, Wes.

I've never personally had an issue with someone who buys animals with the intent to resell at a profit....SO LONG AS they are honest and up front about their business model and that the well being of the animals involved take precedent over profit. Of course, we can't always KNOW that such is the case, but we can make judgment calls based on how such a person behaves in general.

The same is true of breeders. Just because someone is breeding the animals doesn't automatically raise them to some higher level of credibility. Breeders can (and do, sometimes!) keep their animals in deplorable conditions and conduct their business with no other motive than pure profit.

Flippers can respect and even love the animals they work with. Breeders can be greedy jerks. What counts is personal integrity and how they care for the animals....not their particular methods of acquiring the animals and passing them on to the public.

I DO agree with Jamie...that when you go through a trusted breeder you know, your chances of getting superior quality animals is much higher because such a breeder is careful and works on always improving the bloodlines of his animals and has detailed histories for all his animals. But morally and ethically speaking, I don't have anything against either business practice.

Regarding the seller's responsibility to insure the animals go to good homes... That's a much harder question. When one just has a few animals to rehome each year...it might not be such a big deal to carefully screen buyers...but what about those who must sell hundreds of babies? What about those who MUST sell a certain number of animals each year just to break even and pay the bills on their facilities? How could they possibly have time to screen each buyer and how could they afford to turn away everyone who might not meet some arbitrary level of acceptability?

Should a car dealer be held responsible for not screening those who come onto his lot and drive away in a new car? What if they get drunk a week later and kill someone in their new car?

In an ideal world, those who are in the business of selling animals would always care more for the animals' well being than their own profit and always be able to know in advance if the animal were being placed into a proper home or not. But, of course, the world is far from ideal....