Kijiji Canada: Stop puppy mills and prohibit the sale of household pets

This petition simply wants Kijiji Canada to remove the sale of animals and only promote adoption from registered animal rescue groups and shelters, and the re-homing of family pets (for a small adoption fee).

The idea of a puppy mill is horrifying to animal lovers everywhere. Cruel, cramped, unsanitary breeding facilities that force mothers to produce puppies until they can’t anymore.

Many big Canadian pet stores like PetSmart, Petland and PJ’s Pets have taken a stand against mills by stopping pet sales and only promoting adoptions. Toronto, Richmond, Mississauga and more Canadian cities have even banned the sale of cats and dogs in pet stores. This is great, as it cuts off a major source of income for puppy mills who used to sell their puppies and kittens in pet stores, and at the same time boosts animal adoptions in shelters and rescue groups and reduces euthanasia of healthy and friendly animals across Canada. But now, there’s a much bigger problem: puppy mills and disreputable breeders can sell directly to unsuspecting animal lovers through online classified sites — like Kijiji.ca.

Kijiji is the most popular classifieds website in Canada, so this petition asks them to simply stop allowing the sale of household pets of any kind including dogs, cats, primates, cage birds, rodents, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. After public pressure a few years ago, Craigslist stopped allowing the sale of household pets. Kijiji could easily adopt a policy like this.

I doubt sites like Kijiji want to support puppy mills, and backyard breeders, but by allowing pet sales to happen on their sites they are providing a marketplace where these disreputable breeders can profit. They clearly know about the problem too, because they have guidelines that warn buyers about mills. The problem is it’s really easy for unethical breeders to disguise themselves online. There is no way Kijiji would be able to catch all the bad posts. If thousands of us send messages to them, I’m sure they’ll do the right thing.

According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, puppy mills dogs tend to have more psychological and behavioral problems. They lack veterinary care and socialization, and often have or will develop genetic defects, health, or behavior problems due to poor breeding practices, inbreeding, and the deplorable conditions into which these puppies were born. No one wants this – Kijiji included.

Craigslist’s Policy

Kijiji’s Pets Code of Conduct

Humane Society International Canada’ Puppy Mills fact sheet

Penn Vet study on pet stores puppies

Canadian Federation of Humane Societies’ Shelter animal statistics

Since the ban in Albuquerque, New Mexico, came into effect in 2007, by 2009 there was a shelter adoption increase of 23% and euthanasia decrease of 35% since enacting their ban in 2006. Shelter intakes decreased 6%