I think you've raised a very relevant point Robert, one I've been chewing over recently too. Someone will say - ok I've bought these animals, now what do I do? You have to wonder why they didn't find out about them
first. Sometimes we hear about what amounts to out and out cruelty to animals caused by the total ignorance of the owner - the sheep my OH and I took on after they had been rescued (which we then passed on to Lochbyre
) are such a case - someone thought it was a fashion statement of some kind to own sheep but had absolutely no understanding of the care required to keep them happy and healthy.
But your point is really - whose responsibilty is it to make sure all animal owners have the requisite knowledge? To some extent it is up to the individual - but clearly that doesn't always work. The Government does try by implementing rules and laws, but they don't cover everything, and human nature being what it is, some people see laws as only being there to be flouted or broken.
That just leaves peer pressure, in other words the rest of us have to take some responsibilty. That means that when we sell stock we must make sure that we have passed on as much knowledge as we can about both how to care for the animals, and the rules and regs that must be complied with. We must also be prepared to stand up and object if we see that someone is mistreating animals, be it deliberately or through neglect caused by ignorance or a lack of interest.
One way of helping to combat the ignorance is via the internet and discussions such as this, but the worst offenders probably are not sufficiently interested to even try to improve, so won't be here on TAS.
So I don't think there's a single answer Robert - but I'm really glad you have raised the point.