Begging stories in local papers

[rogerzilla]

No links, as it's a bit mean, but there is an increasing trend in the local rag for people without pet insurance to start GoFundMe accounts and set up a sob story of why their pet is special.  Is this just a Swindon thing?  The sums involved are huge and I wonder about the animal's welfare in some cases - is stretching its lifespan by a few months, with trauma and poor health, in its interests, or only those of the owner?

Presumably if they could demonstrate real financial hardship they could try The Blue Cross, but there's no mention of that.

Is this a cost-of-living thing, or just grift?  I'm not blasé about the cost of insurance; 10-11 years is about the limit for a cat, after which they generally need to take their chances as it becomes £50/month or more.  Dogs, of course, cost far more.

[FifeingEejit]

Nothing new
See also "I went on holiday and didn't have any/invalidated my insurance"

Relying on peoples good will is cheaper though, so....

[Kim]

I assumed it was an import from USAnia, where GoFundMe is how people access healthcare.

[HTFB]

My guess would be grift, as the British are famously soft-hearted about furry mammals and a significant proportion are also soft-headed enough to hand over cash without checking whether, say, the poor suffering beast actually exists.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Haven't seen these, but then I don't look at local papers much. What you see commonly else-country is this style of story or advert for medical procedures.