If you get an email that someone has been evicted from their home and desperately has to find homes for their beloved labs Cookie and Coco, don't hop on your computer and contact everyone you know. It's a hoax.
How do I know? Let me tell you my short tale.
Yesterday my boss told me that he'd forwarded an email to me about an evicted couple that was trying to find a home for their two labs Cookie and Coco who were totally attached to each other. They only had until March 5 because the apartment they were moving to would not allow dogs. My boss couldn't take the dogs because he already has a very needy dog, a cat and a new baby. But he was worried.
So, I read the email and there was a contact and everything. I have 5 cats and 3 hamsters, but still emailed my husband asking if we could take 2 labs. It was a very effective email and so believable. So many people are being evicted and my boss received the email from someone he knew so it had to be true right????
Luckily, I have a coworker who volunteers with Seattle Purebred Rescue. Before I did anything else, I went over to ask for suggestions.
Apparently, she had received the same email from someone else and she had contacted Seattle Purebred Rescue to speak to the Lab rep for help. The Lab rep told her that the email was real...but TWO YEARS OLD. They had rehomed Cookie and Coco and they were fine. She was being inundated with calls in the meantime by concerned rescuers.
Later in the day, we found out that the message is surfacing as far away as ENGLAND. It morphs in dates and circumstances to make it sound like a local rescue. People are wasting a lot of time with this.
Apparently someone is responsible because someone is responding to the contact email.
Why would someone do this?
It boggles the mind. There is no money to gain. Some rescuers think it's simply a dog-hater. Who knows? But what a stupid, idiotic thing to do.
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28 comments:
Its not a hoax - i know b/c i adopted cookie and coco just four weeks ago. these emails are still getting forwarded b/c people don't know that they were adopted yet, but no one is doing it out of hatred - they just don't know the story has its happy ending. i am posting this so that hopefully people won't ignore emails such as the "cookie and coco" email in the future, thinking its fake. i would hate for other needy dogs out there to miss out on great opportunities for wonderful homes. cookie and coco are the most wonderful addition to our family and we can't imagine our life without them now!
If you are indeed the person that adopted these two, I respect your opinion on that. I do, however, have a huge problem with forwarding these kinds of emails blindly. 99 percent of the time, whatever is being said is complete baloney. Of those 1 percent that may be true, I think there are better ways of handling these kinds of things.
There are a lot of needy animals out there, or orphans named Timmy who's last wish is for a new teddy bear. Sending out appeals by email and saying "Forward this to everyone you know!" is not a responsible way to handle these kinds of situations.
How many man (or woman) hours have been wasted on this that could be better spent on other needy animals?
Well, I don't know how many labs named Cookie and Coco are out there, but I do know from my coworker that Seattle Purebred Rescue's lab representative says she rehomed Cookie and Coco two years ago.
I also know that there are individuals out there responding to the email contact and claiming to have adopted them about a month ago.
The one truth appears to be that they did find a home together...when and where? Who knows for sure...but there are other animals out there who REALLY need a home RIGHT NOW. They are the ones that need our time, not Cookie and Coco.
Let me clarify....the Seattle Purebred Rescue rep was INVOLVED in the rehoming. They may not have been the actual group that found the home. But they know who Cookie and Coco are and that they found a home.
I confirmed that this morning with my dog-rescuing coworker.
Just wanted to pass this along. Not a hoax and they found a home. Story here.
I give up!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
I stand by my comment. Even if not a hoax, sending out a blind email to everyone on the internet is just is bad as a hoax. It's just a dumb way to handle these kinds of things.
I predict we will hear about Cookie and Coco for a long long time because of this.
Seattle rescue group absolutely had nothing whatsoever to do with the adoption. the labs are in California, always have been. its so funny how everyone thinks they know. they are my dogs! sorry! also, the previous owner only sent the email to her friends and didnt ask anyone to send it on blindly to everyone they know - its the random strangers across the country who took it upon themselves to do that, most after they were already adopted, but how would anyone know that.
I don't know what is wrong with forwarding on information if the purpose is helpful. I don't like receiving most forwarded emails, but I will not apologize for passing along a request to help adopt any homeless animal.
I read the posting about Cookie and Coco on 5/27/09 on the NJ Freecycle. The guy said he was passing it on for his friends who have the dogs. I also emailed the address in the postings but have not heard back. I can't tell if it's real or not.
Maybe we should shoot all the dogs named Cookie and Coco and start over.
This story may have been true at one time but it is a hoax now. I just googled "katherine morris labs" and came across a number of stories about "needing to place the dogs". Some were up to 2 years old. One says they're in Medina CA and have to leave their home and their new place won't allow them. They one circulating in the last month says they need to leave the country in 2 weeks and can't find a home yet and the lab rescue society says they'll be seperated and that's not an option. All blogs about have people saying they've emailed the person and didn't get a response (same email BTW in all circulations).
I don't know why someone would do this either! It's totally pointless. And while it may have not started out as a hoax, it has most certainly evolved into one! I got this email today in Alaska, with the city where the labs were at is listed as Homer, AK. I got fooled though and forwarded it onto some addresses before I checked it out. *slaps forehead*
Hello! Thanks for this blog posting. This email is now circulating among animal lovers in BANGALORE, India. Yes it has crossed many seas. I've tried my best to slay it. Hope that news of it being a hoax spreads.
:)
Cheers.
Just got the cookie/coco email today from a friend in Syracuse, NY someone is sending this along as a hoax and they do change the locations around to make it seem local and real, this is going to live on forever like Elvis sightings. AAAHH.
Well the story has made it to Texas. The email had no indication where the dogs were located.
Unfortunately, I forwarded it before checking it out.
I've sent an email to try to stop the spread.
Hey y'all, this email has now made it to Masterton, New Zealand. I also forwarded it until one of those who received it googled the names and found this site. Maybe it was true at one point but really annoying that it keeps being circulated by well meaning people. No wonder nobody answers from that email address, they're probably sick to death of all the emails they got!
Here in Auckkland now circulating around a local high school!
Wow, now in Perth Western Australia, the email sure has done the rounds!
I felt sorry for the dogs but am now quite pleased with my laziness as i didnt send it on, a few hours later received the link to this website. Ahh, funny stuff!
:)
The email has just done the rounds in my office in Melbourne, Australia!
Darwin, Australia!
Sydney Australia
My sister just forwarded the email to me (and she's a professional media rep for a Brisbane university). Before I decided to Google "Cookie and Coco" and found this valuable expose of the hoax, I replied to my sister saying:
Are you sure this isn't just a "viral" email? The email address is "yahoo.com" not ".com.au" - which doesn't prove that it originated from the USA, but makes it highly likely. Also there's not even a remote suggestion of where the dogs are located - or when the original email was written, or the actual deadline date for rescuing the dogs (all are vital info if you're to actually take this seriously).
In the past I've been sent a few similar emails from people in the USA who've just sent it on to everyone in their address book.
These emails tug at the heartstrings without giving the recipient any real hope that there will be resolution. They also make me extremely angry that anyone could be callous enough to value a change of residence over their commitment to love and care for their pets for the whole of their lives.
its here now in Tasmania, Australia we all jsut wanted to find the doggies a home!
It has spread to Sydney where I received it and passed it onto many friends. It's such a waste of everyone's time.
Alice.
and now it has reached Canberra, Australia.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/cookiecoco.asp
Call BS on This!
I am involved with a Lab Rescue in Tulsa, OK For years we have been inundated with this email. We put our email program to forward straight to "the Cookie and Coco file". We had hundreds of emails. There is NO WAY these dogs were recently adopted in Feb. of 2009. These emails have circulated for over 2 years.
Many rescues will not respond any longer without a date, active phone number, and active email address because of this email.
Snopes and the San Francisco rescue are both full of BS regarding cookie and Coco and the dates the email originated.
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