Numerous personal stories reveal abuse and cruel treatment of animals obtained via Craigslist. Kim Basinger's letter furthers the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s campaign to close a loophole in Craigslist’s policies.
Animal protection advocate and actress Kim Basinger sent a letter to
Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster with an urgent request the company end all
animal posts on its platform. The letter furthers the Animal Legal Defense
Fund’s campaign to close a loophole in Craigslist’s policies. The campaign
relies heavily on personal stories from users and confirmed reports that
many traded animals become victims of abuse, neglect or are obtained for
nefarious reasons such as dogfighting. Though Craigslist’s official policy
bans the sale of animals, animals continue to be advertised and purchased on
Craigslist — many under the guise of “rehoming.”
The Animal Legal Defense Fund received reports of animal cruelty across the
United States from users describing purchasing animals riddled with
infections and diseases such as Parvo from neglect and unsanitary housing
conditions — consistent with puppy mill conditions, scams duping families
into paying hundreds to thousands of dollars in deposits or shipping
costs—who are ghosted after the money has been received, and schemes to
“re-home” animals such as horses that are promptly sold to auctions or
buyers intending to sell them for slaughter in Canada or Mexico.
“It’s maddening to see thousands of postings each day from cities across the
country of unscrupulous breeders, puppy and kitten mill operators, and
dishonest sellers, taking advantage of the Craigslist “rehoming” loophole
and duping families into paying exorbitant fees for animals,” says Basinger.
“Partnering with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, I implore Craigslist to
exercise its ethical and corporate responsibility in seeing to the closure
of the animal ‘rehoming’ loophole by prohibiting these posts once and for
all.”
“We have heard from an alarming number of families who have been victimized
by breeders and animal brokers on Craigslist, not to mention the cruelty and
suffering inflicted on the animals themselves,” says Animal Legal Defense
Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. “We join Kim Basinger in urging
Craigslist to ban users from posting animals to the website for any reason
and will continue to shine a light on the ongoing reports we are receiving
from victims until the company takes concrete action.”
Additional reports made public in the media illustrate extreme violence
toward animals obtained from Craigslist including a serial dog killer who
mutilated and killed 29 puppies often using “free to a good home”
advertisements on the website to procure them, instances of slaughtering and
dismembering of animals, and acts of attempted bestiality.
Today all 50 states have a felony animal cruelty law on record to hold
abusers accountable. Each state determines what constitutes cruelty, and the
penalties for committing cruelty.
Return to: Animal Rights/Vegan Activist Strategies
Read more at Companion Animal Care