Is It Legal To Purchase An Animal On Craigslist
Why Giving Pets Away On Craigslist Is A Terrible Idea
Pets are family members — not free stuff.
A virtual menagerie of animals, exotic and domestic, some illegal and others commonplace, is collected and advertised in i place, right at our fingertips - on Craigslist.
One forenoon, while browsing the Google Alerts I subscribe to, to help stay upward to date with animal news, I saw the headline, "Gratis Baby Chimp." The website? Craigslist. The preview line? "Hey, I have a gratis baby chimp to a adept home. His name is Donkey Kong and I got him for my girlfriend for Christmas."
Whether a hoax or an honest entreatment, the author had deleted the post by the fourth dimension I clicked on it.
It'due south difficult to discern which Craigslist ads are reflective of actual situations and which are simply instances of trolling, because to weigh each case independently would take more than ane lifetime.
There are so many ads for unwanted pets out there, too many to count - and many seem completely serious. In browsing the New York City Craigslist ads lonely, I found not only posts about cats and dogs, merely also sloths, saccharide gliders and snakes, all bachelor to whoever would have them.
The ads I came beyond offered a window into the complicated and opaque lives of perfect strangers and how many of them treat their animals, who seem to occupy some odd space between possession and family member. The photos of animals - who don't fifty-fifty know their futures hang in the balance - peer out from the screen, in what, to a helpless onlooker, feels like some silent appeal for help.
"I'd just like for him to be in a loving dwelling where he is accepted."
For some people, contingencies like sudden affliction or losing their home can make it nearly impossible for them to keep their pets.
"Fosse has been my friend'south sun, moon, and stars for the last two years, but her serious asthma and other major health issues have been making it too hard for her to take care of him," one person posted to Craigslist recently. (The post has since been taken downwards.) "She is leaving for inpatient health treatment on Th morning, and just found out that the family that was taking intendance of him isn't immune to keep him. The cat rescues that we've chosen are all not accepting new cats right now, and we don't know what else to practise."
Other ads testify how some people just don't care virtually animals. "I am going abroad to college and my parents unfortunately do not want my true cat to stay at their apartment," another person wrote.
"This is a very sad, hard situation for me because I've had Oreo for 7 years (since he was a kitten). He is very friendly, playful yet calm, appreciating, clean, hygienic, healthy, neutered and has had all of his vaccines (papers included). He is the perfect house cat, and you will love him! Oreo is free of charge, I'd simply like for him to be in a loving home where he is accepted."
For those of us all likewise enlightened of just how many animals are without homes, ads like these become painful to read. Those who want to re-home a pet considering of some minor inconvenience seem incredibly crass - and for many of the advertised animals, finding a taker could mean the difference between life and expiry.
In the U.S. alone, approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter creature shelters each twelvemonth. Of those, approximately ii.vii million animals are adopted, while roughly the same number of shelter animals are euthanized.
"We owe animals more than just a partial chance at a good life."
And Craigslist has come under fire in the past. In 2010, the site agreed to make changes after illegal action occurred in the Developed Services department of its site. The visitor removed the "adult" and "erotic" sections, but these measures came a flake too late for Julissa Brisman, a masseuse acquired through a Craigslist ad, who was found dead in a Boston hotel room.
If measures aren't in place to ensure people using the site are protected, i tin merely imagine the plight of the animals featured on Craigslist. And the worst case scenarios for animals put upwards for free on the site are nigh unthinkable.
What a man named Jeff Nally did is a textbook example of how horribly wrong online animal listings can go. Nally used Craigslist to obtain 29 gratis dogs. He and then mutilated and tortured the dogs in front of his kidnapped and horrified girlfriend. In the spring of 2012, he was sentenced to up to 45 years backside bars.
A more recent case is that of Jason Brown, who was just sentenced to up to 28 years in prison after he used Craigslist to detect dogs being given away. He beheaded 4 dogs.
Autonomously from these nightmarish scenarios, people accept too been known to learn complimentary animals to act as allurement in dog fights. There's also the take a chance that some people await for free smaller animals, like mice or rabbits, as gratuitous nutrient for their pet snakes.
"Information technology's pretty reckless to place a gratis-to-a-expert-home ad without whatever sort of groundwork check," Scott Heiser, staff attorney Fauna Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), told The Dullard. "That'south not to say a significant corporeality don't turn out fine, but we owe animals more than than just a partial chance at a good life."
Creature abuser registries can aid people perform groundwork checks earlier handing over their pets. "We've seen that happen in many places, and in Tennessee the registry is now statewide," Heiser said.
But first, rather than placing a free-to-a-proficient-abode advertising online, Heiser suggested trying to rehome the animal with an creature rescue arrangement or shelter. "At least a shelter has some kind of vetting procedure," he said.
In circumstances where a no-impale shelter tin't exist institute in your area, Heiser suggested doing the extra legwork if you lot are ad on sites similar Craigslist to ensure your pet volition exist rubber. "If you're going to do a free-to-a-skilful-home [ad], before you identify the fauna, do a home visit," he said. "Anyone who is willing to accept on a pet should be willing to practise that. That should turn out pretty well for the beast for most of the time."
"Never offer your animal as 'free to a good home.'"
People who know immediate how crowded and stressful brute shelters tin can be see the net as a potentially useful tool for direct rehoming.
"Ending upwardly in a kennel can be incredibly stressful for whatsoever animate being," Katie Armour, project coordinator at the MSPCA Boston Adoption Center, told The Dullard. "As empathetic fauna lovers, nosotros experience this stress along with these animals and do what we can to alleviate it as they wait to find their forever home. Many would benefit from being directly placed into a loving home."
If it's used very cautiously and responsibly, the internet can be the saving grace for an creature about to go homeless, Armour said.
But even though she's more amenable to this kind of virtual networking than others, she's yet cautious about using Craigslist. "Many people have had great success placing animals within their social media networks (Facebook, etc.) rather than using the more faceless and unknowable Craigslist," she said.
And offer an creature up for costless could be a recipe for disaster, just because information technology makes the transaction far as well easy for people with bad intentions. "Never offer your animate being as 'complimentary to a good home' - even a small, nominal corporeality can make a big departure in the quality of adopters and help you know their intent a bit better," she said.
"I can't imagine being forced to make that option."
Information technology'southward very difficult to track how frequently people rehome their pets on Craigslist and what happens to the pets afterward.
A recent study from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) shows that when people practice rehome their pets, in 37 percent of cases information technology'due south through a friend or family unit member, and 36 percent of the fourth dimension it's through a shelter. Just xi percentage rehomed their pets to a stranger.
"The ASPCA actively supports safety net programs beyond the country, which enable owners to keep their pets in their own homes by providing services such equally access to affordable veterinary care or help with pet-friendly housing," Dr. Emily Weiss, vice president of enquiry and evolution for the ASPCA, told The Dodo. "If a pet possessor absolutely must rehome their pet, we would recommend exploring options other than Craigslist."
Weiss' recommendations include:
- Reach out to friends and family who may be able to have the pet in.
- Achieve out to local shelters to learn what options they may accept bachelor for rehoming. Some organizations have virtual bulletin boards and other ways to connect with potential adopters.
- Connect with rescue groups. If yous are able to keep the pet in your home and act as a foster dwelling house for your pet, that can increase the ways a rescue arrangement can assist you.
- Connect with veterinarians in your community to explore rehoming opportunities they may have available.
Armour agreed that your ain social networks are a great place to start. "Friends and family unit, and their friends and family, tin be the primal to assistance you notice kindred spirits who would love your pet just as yous practice," she said. If trying to rehome your pet online, employ your instincts and enquire potential adopters questions, Armour urged. "If you accept a bad feeling about a person, or feel unsafe dealing with them, this is certainly not someone y'all'd entrust your pet with."
Similar Heiser, Amour suggested requesting a home visit for anyone interested in adopting your pet. She added that existence honest about your pet'southward beliefs and any medical issues helps your pet in the long run. "You're looking for a lasting home that will honey and accept your pet for who they truly are," she said.
The key takeaway? If you take to give up your pet, the responsibility falls on you to find a prophylactic and loving dwelling - considering Craigslist does not appear to be looking out for your fauna's best interest, nor does it seem the company has any plans to do then in the virtually future. Craigslist did not answer to The Dodo'due south request for comment.
"It's such a terribly tragic state of affairs when people accept to give up a family member," Heiser said. "I can't imagine beingness forced to make that choice."
Source: https://www.thedodo.com/craigslist-animals-1561260024.html
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