That is a good learning experience there.
Just pair yours and do your own thing, it would be nice to hook up with someone to make some cool combos but it is cooler if you make them yourself.
We all would like the jump ahead but I have seem too many stories like this where greed seems to take over. I have set up future trades with a bunch of my locals but we are all also working on different morph projects too.
Good luck on getting your animals back.