Facebook Says I Can’t Use Them to Look For New Friends

I was shocked when I got this message when I tried to go to my page on Facebook. According to the policies of Facebook, you are NOT supposed to send friend requests to people you do not actually know. Do the gurus at Facebook have a clue about networking?

Dog rescues use Facebook to cross-post animals in need of homes from coast to coast. How am I supposed to do that if I can only send requests to people I know?!