Topic: petition to stop pets being sold on Gumtree

[Squash64]

There are thousands of pets being offered on Gumtree every day.  Some of them
are 'free to a good home' which could mean they end up as bait for dog-fighting.
Some are very young puppies which may have been imported, many are bred in
terrible conditions.
This petition is asking Gumtree to stop advertising pets and only needs another
99 signatures to reach their goal of 18000.  I know that many of you are animal
lovers but even if you are not, please sign the petition to try to put an end to pets
being sold on Gumtree.


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/398/364/794/gumtree-stop-allowing-pets-for-sale/

Thank you.

[pumkinlover]

Signed

[Paulines7]

Done.

[galina]

and another one

[grannyjanny]

Done.

[betula]

Done it

[macmac]

: :dog:Signed 

[tomatoada]

Done.

[Jeannine]

Done here too.

I wish it would stop here it is very scary.

We sadly have something called Craigs List which sells everything but has a very big pet section.

We also have Kijiji which does the same thing

..and Petsearch too.

XX Jeannine

[ACE]

Most of those free adds are scams and there are some  genuine sellers using the internet. A proper pet seeker will know the diffence, close it down and the rogues will go somewhere else. I would have thought it was a good reference point for animal inspectors to use in their inquireries. Fighting dogs will go through their own network. I shall not sign it for that reason.

[Squash64]

Many thanks to all who have signed the petition, there have been lots of signatures
since yesterday.

ACE, I'm sure you are against dog-fighting but if you weren't where
would you get your bait dogs from?  Gumtree has a good supply of
dogs, mainly Staffies or Staffie crosses which are free.  A dog which
was suitable for fighting was advertised recently until people complained
and the ad was taken off.

Puppies are being imported into the country and passed off as 'home-bred' -
the programme last week even showed them advertised on Gumtree.

I know you are a responsible dog owner, but there are many people who
don't have a clue and think that a site like Gumtree is a good place to
get a puppy from.

Sorry you won't sign, but I still like you. 

[ACE]

Not all staffies are fighting dogs. Lovely dogs but you need to be boss and they need plenty of exercise. Loads of these are taken up by families that can't cope, so they give them away. As I said before the animal welfare people must keep an eye on the adds and I bet it helps them no end. Take away the adds and there will be loads of dogs tied to lamposts again. Leave it as it is you could be doing more harm than good.

[Squash64]

Not all staffies are fighting dogs. Lovely dogs but you need to be boss and they need plenty of exercise. Loads of these are taken up by families that can't cope, so they give them away. As I said before the animal welfare people must keep an eye on the adds and I bet it helps them no end. Take away the adds and there will be loads of dogs tied to lamposts again. Leave it as it is you could be doing more harm than good.

I'm not saying that Staffies are fighting dogs, but with the numbers available
they are being given away free, which is just what people who are already
involved in dog fighting want - dogs which can be used as bait.

I doubt if animal welfare people have time to read through the hundreds of
dog adverts every day on Gumtree.  I've already spotted one person who
advertises that they want a puppy on one site, then on Gumtree has puppies
available.  No doubt passed off as being bred by her/him.

If you have time, have a look at Get Gumtree Animal Free on facebook.

[Jeannine]

Squash if Gumtree is anything like Craigs list here it is used as a market place for selling all types of mixed dogs at high prices, plus there are sites which are supposed to re home them but they are scams too, they are picking up free or nearly free small dogs from shelters in the US where no one wants them and shipping them here,they then put them on Craigs with a huge tear jerking sob story about rescue and  charge hundreds of dollars for them to folks who think they are doing good. We never see free puppies here since this.We see blind aged dogs, and even one that had a skateboard under it as it couldn't walk. Sometimes when you follow a cute ad through the "rescue group" tells you that one has gone and steers you on to another that is being shipped. They say  are bringing them from Tawaiin, Jamaica,  it is unbelievable. Then we have the puppies, Schippershits, Pekeapoms, Doodlierrs,anything they can breed with a chihuaha, Then  everything you can imagine in puppies, all bred in the mid west US puppy farms, shipped in and sold as local puppies. There are dozens of cross staffies, what they call Pit bulls although there actually is  no such breed, loads of Shar Pei crosses. I should get you a link to read. Plus there are the kittens, hundreds of dollars for mutt cats and then the sob stories about can't keep my dog , need a good home , then they ask for what they call an adoption fee, again hundreds of dollars. A free dog, which is rare is of course snapped up and resold. It is a cess pit. There are all other pets too, snakes, tortoises, hedhehogs, birds, everything.

We have  a special problem here, not sure how to phrase this.. a country from which we have had really high immigration, not one which was really into pets. The folks here now think a family pet is appropriate , I don't have aproblem with that, but they want tiny dogs, so the cross bred poms, pekes, paps have taken off big time . Thes folks have money, don't understand dogs , see these ads and think that a pekepom or maltichi is a Canadian breed and go for it, later they can't cope and the animals are moved  on and sold again and agin, some as old as 10. It is heartbreaking to see it.These folks mean well in the beginning but they have never been around dogs much and simply don't understand, they are at the mercy of all sorts of puppy dealers.

God forbid it gets as bad in the UK as it is here and it might if folks don't step in and help stamp it out.

Ace, I think you are wrong on this one but respect your decision and the reason.

XX Jeannine

[pumkinlover]

That is so sad to read Jeannine, it is bad enough here.

Ace -while we all respect your choice - the issue as I see it is that these sites make it easy to get rid of animals- so encourages more breeding and irresponsibility as once one litter is moved on the "breeder" can repeat the process over and over again.