OneKind is calling on internet users to join the fight against unscrupulous pet sales adverts. Earlier this year, in just six months over 100,000 inappropriate, misleading or illegal adverts were removed by some of the UK’s biggest classified advertising websites following a hugely successful pilot scheme run by the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG).
PAAG, of which OneKind is a member, was set up to regulate online pet sales with trained volunteers enlisted to carry out a six-month monitoring scheme looking at thousands of online pet ads. The monitoring was a huge success with the vast number of ads removed showing the level of commitment given by the participating websites to improving animal welfare. It also helps provide a level of protection for consumers.
OneKind believes that animal lovers now have a huge opportunity to make a difference for the thousands of animals advertised online each day and is calling on the public to join the fight against bad adverts, reporting anything suspicious they find whilst browsing online classified pages directly to the sites themselves and informing PAAG where sites refuse to remove illegal or unscrupulous adverts from their pet sections.
From underage animals, banned breeds, illegally imported or endangered species to animals offered in exchange for inanimate objects, the adverts removed in the pilot scheme all contravened PAAG’s Minimum Standards which were launched in September 2013. The Minimum Standards aim to improve the welfare of pets sold online by encouraging websites to filter out illegal, unethical and unscrupulous advertisements.
The scheme is supported by the Scottish Government and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment, Richard Lochhead MSP said: “The Scottish Government is pleased to see that a substantial number of bad adverts have been blocked during the Pet Advertising Advisory Group’s pilot moderation scheme, and we commend the commitment shown by six of the UK’s main classified websites to the minimum standards in the twelve months since their launch. It is clear, however that more work needs to be done across the industry as a whole to rid classified websites of illegal and unscrupulous adverts and ultimately create a safe space online for pets and consumers alike”.
The classified advertising websites involved in the pilot scheme: Gumtree, Pets4Homes, PreLoved, Vivastreet, FridayAds and EPupz removed adverts highlighted by their own filters and those reported to them by PAAG Volunteer Moderators.
Anyone with a serious concern about the welfare of an animal in an advert should notify the RSPCA, SSPCA or USPCA and PAAG at admin@paag.org.uk