How do you find someone to share this passion with?

[GoooDDoggO]

I've been pretty secret about it all my life how do you find someone to share this interest

 

[knottyman9]

consistently put urself out there with the sluts. consistency is key. its a numbers game.

 

[Brandy]

Think by building trust up and this seems like a great forum to do that good luck, just be carefull some bullsitters and time wasters

 

[egoldstein]

It's hit or miss. I met a couple of people IRL who shared similar interests, but I've been mostly out since the mid 90's and only found a couple.
Most I have gotten to know through forums such as this, you interact with one another often enough and you get a feel for who is likely to be compatible and who isn't. If you're lucky they aren't too far away, but most of the time they're nowhere close and your chances for in person socialization is limited to a few times a year, if that. I've met a fair number of people, most have been decent folks with only a few that stand out as people I didn't want to maintain contact with.

Best advice is to not be in a rush, take your time and get to know one another; trust slowly and bullshit little.

 

[Viktor Friesian]

Trust is the most important. trust built on mutual respect. I've also seen some zoos who's only real way to contact or interact with them is if you have some skin in the game. i.e. Either you have animals of your own as well, or there's some implicit exchange of blackmail-like information. Mutually assured destruction, as it were.
Definitely know that this was a thing that was done in the early 90s / late 2000s but then the onset of Randy Pepe outing zoos and causing untold chaos and resulting in the deaths of several animals because they were seized and euthanized rather than have the shelters take on the risk of rehoming an animal 'trained for sexual purposes'.

Remember, it's not JUST you, or the other zoo, it's their animal companions. They're the ones the most at risk, since they're socially at the bottom of the pecking order in terms of importance.

 

[egoldstein]

Trust is the most important. trust built on mutual respect. I've also seen some zoos who's only real way to contact or interact with them is if you have some skin in the game. i.e. Either you have animals of your own as well, or there's some implicit exchange of blackmail-like information. Mutually assured destruction, as it were.
Definitely know that this was a thing that was done in the early 90s / late 2000s but then the onset of Randy Pepe outing zoos and causing untold chaos and resulting in the deaths of several animals because they were seized and euthanized rather than have the shelters take on the risk of rehoming an animal 'trained for sexual purposes'.

Ah good old dogluvr/Randy, who can forget that piece of work.

IMO the safest bet for everyone is to keep meets purely social while you get to know each other so there's no need for MAD (Mutuall Assured Destruction) as nobody is at risk. I don't need to see someone commit a crime to know they're a real zoo, there are folks I know so well I'd drive for days and empty my bank account to rescue them if they needed it and I have no evidence on them and don't want it.
As you build trust you can decide how things go from there, but I advise everyone that providing evidence of crimes to someone as leverage against each other is absurd and an enormous risk, please don't do things like that. Get to know each other before you consider exposing yourself to risks you don't have to.