There was an article in todays Halifax Daily News sent to me by my friend Lisa - who owns Delta and Oscar - about an online trading/selling thing that's supposed to be like a regifting online place - she didn't notice that it also was selling live animals! Luckily they have a forum section that you can post to - so I made sure that I posted what I thought about selling live animals - it only let you post a measly 2000 characters though - so I also emailed the support people a longer post - and they actually emailed me back a super nice email saying that they were going to be emailing it to the other support people to consider whether they should be having the live animals section on the forum.
Because when it comes down to it - it really is not a good idea I think - especially after you've talked to me! haha!
Here's the link to the regifting site: http://halifax.kijiji.ca/ - it's all supposed to be local - but I am sure that the animals are NOT. Here's the link to the article that was in the newspaper today - http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=3425&sc=2
Here's the email that I sent:
The problem with selling animals for profit is that you run the risk of coming into contact with people who treat their companion animals like livestock - they don't particularly care about the well-being of the animals in their care - they just want to make money off of the product that they're selling. What you the consumer wants is a lifetime best buddy - a canine lifetime companion - but what they want is money - they don't care about the health or well-being of the sentient being that is in the dark, filthy, feces filled shed that houses the parents of the animal that is going to be sleeping in your bed for the rest of its life. They don't care about the genetic heritage - about whether or not that dogs hips or eyes or mental health is solid and worthy of carrying over from generation to generation - and quite often - when a puppy is born with some form of mutation that makes it impossible to sell, but still healthy enough to live - they use that puppy to breed the next several generations of product.
That is what a "puppy farm" and a "puppy mill" is - and that is what is so impossible to see on the internet - you can't see the "home raised" puppy from the "puppy farm" puppy. And it's not rocket science. If you want a pure bred puppy - your first stop should be the Canadian Kennel Club - the certifying organization for pure bred dogs - get a list of who is breeding dogs locally in your area and registering their dogs through them. Then go contact THOSE breeders. If a mixed breed dog is fine with you - go to a shelter and SAVE a dog, rather than BUY a dog.
Forums like this are HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE and COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY ways of looking for sentient living beings and companions that are going to be sharing your bed and your life. They are perfect ways to look for chairs and jewelry - I love them for stuff like that - but for companion animals selling them for profit is wrong.
Even responsible breeders will tell you they are NOT in it for the money - they are in it for the love of the breed. They believe that they have dogs that are the best examples of the breed and they want to improve upon or add something to the breed - not make money for themselves. When done properely - they don't make money - they're
spending too much money testing for genetic malformities and going to shows and buying stuff for their dogs!
So yes, please - take down the section on "animals sales" - Ebay itself won't sell live animals - so why would Kijiji? Just that should be enough!!!
Category: [Rescue]
Category: [Letters to the Editor]
Category: [Puppy mills]
Old fucking news. Quebec's been doing it since forever. There are a kajillion of websites like kijiji in Quebec, kijiji is just a newer one of the bunch, and they all have Animals sections, it's like the first place for people to go to get or dump their pets. I used to monitor them but I got depressed at all the animals I couldn't help, and sick of the attitude and runaround I'd get from people if I offered helping. I've put cages up for sale as a fundraiser and say "we are a rodent rescue, please help" and that's gotten us a little attention…but I haven't even broached the topic about how this is wrong because the response would be quite predictable. "What's wrong with selling animals over the internet? What's wrong with you?"
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