Help Stop Backyard Breeders Selling Underage Pups And Kittens

[KKDD]

Gumtree is a major site for back yard breeders to sell their animals.

Gumtree has a code of practice that specifies both kittens and puppies must be 8 weeks minimum for sale but in every state, people sell underage pups and kittens on Gumtree. You can report these ads, and Gumtree will remove them. Gumtree wont remove the ads unless they are reported. Gumtree's pet 'code of practice' is buried deep, but each ad requires the seller to note the animals date of birth, so its easy to pick the underage ones.

Here's how to report them.

Just click on the little red flag in the top right of the offending ad. Choose 'other' from the drop down menu, and give the reason that the animals are x weeks old, contrary to gumtree's own code of practice. Then click 'report' Gumtree will remove the ad (usually within 24 hours).

For those in the habit of scanning gumtree, its a good way to make it harder for back yard breeders to offload their stock. And good for the baby animals welfare as well.

Im hoping that if Gumtree get swamped with reports about all the underage animals, they might stop accepting the ads in the first place.

Edited December 2, 2012 by KKDD

[Greylvr]

I was on a forum where someone said thy rather eat them from byb I was shocked this is a good post

[gillbear]

i also report all of the unchipped ones.

[Guest Ams]

I've been playing this game for a few nights now. Lots of fun.

[Remarkabull]

I do it on the FB buy, swap, sell sites. I get abused and called names but admin always removes the adds so its worth it :)

[WExtremeG]

I do it on the FB buy, swap, sell sites. I get abused and called names but admin always removes the adds so its worth it :)

Not so lucky- admin always removes my posts (and others) it's like they're favouring byb's- maybe they are some themselves?

[minimax]

Someone at my work advertised purebred dally pups for sale, ready to go at 6 weeks (in time for Christmas/make great Christmas presents!) only $600

Luckily they linked to their ad on the trading post, so I reported it (usually when people at work advertise puppies I *win friends* by emailing them and explaining why it's not in the best interest of the pups to let them go before 8 weeks of age lol) and they changed their TP ad to say ready to go at 8 weeks, but still with the same "ready by" date

At least they are saying they will be hearing tested, makes me hope that maybe they sort of know what they are doing :/

[KKDD]

Some gumtree advertisers who get deleted a few times, wise up and change the DOB on their ads. I contacted one asking for a recent picture since the pictures of their pups looked much younger than said they were. When they responded saying that they had changed the DOB to get round Gumtree's rules, I just forwarded that email onto the administrator and they got banned.

The underage selling is particularly rife right now due to backyarders trying to cash in on christmas.

I encourage anyone to approach the FB pet page admins about underage pups and kittens as well. Be nice. Some of them want to do the right thing.

[Steve]

So what if they advertise them when they are young but don't let them go home until they are older?

Far as I know you cant get your ad to go up on gumtree unless you say they are at least 8 weeks old anyway. Its pretty bloody easy to lie about the DOB anyway.

[KKDD]

So what if they advertise them when they are young but don't let them go home until they are older?

Far as I know you cant get your ad to go up on gumtree unless you say they are at least 8 weeks old anyway. Its pretty bloody easy to lie about the DOB anyway.

Generally if people are advertsing them underage, with the intent of not releasing them till they are 8 weeks or older, they state this in their ad and the ad would not be removed.

There is nothing to stop people advertising things in breach of the gumtree pets code of practice. The reporting system however does alert the mods, who then review and remove offending ads.

Yes it is easy to lie about the DOB, and Im sure some people do that. But I actually think most people advertise underage animals due to ignorance rather than evil intent.

[KKDD]

There seem to be an awful lot of underage puppies being sold on Gumtree at the moment. Especially in QLD. Some adds perhaps are just forgetting to specify if they wont let the pups go immediately, but an awful lot are stating that 6 and 7 weeks pups are 'ready to go'. If anyone wants to trawl through the ads and report those less than 8 weeks old, it would surely slow down some back-yard breeders. I reviewed 10 pages of Gumtree dog adds yesterday and reported over 30 ads (all states). Including some people selling 4 week old puppies. The situation is just as bad with kittens, which Gumtree policy requires be a minimum of 8 weeks old prior to sale.

[Flippy Dog]

I've also been reporting the ads and I have noticed a lot of one off ads for pups such as English Bulldogs where the advertiser lists a gorgeous photo of the purebred pup then you scroll down and the sellers other ads are shown, another two English Bulldogs, in total, three pups in three different towns and states.

I don't know if these are legit ads but an English Bulldog purebred for $420 sounds too good to be true, I've also seen them list Frenchies, Bostons and a few others, forget what. I first noticed the ads because pups were underage...needless to say, they are now advertised as eight weeks...

There are also the ads where they have their email scrawled across the photo. And I reported a litter of docked Rottweiler pups, that was sad, maybe I should have reported to somebody first, I don't know.

Again, I don't know if the English Bulldog ads are legit, just feel wrong.

[tdierikx]

Isn't it funny how the general public are having no difficulty in finding these ads, but the authorities that are responsible for enforcing the laws about the sale of underage/unchipped pups can't seem to find them or do anything about it... *sigh*

T.

[Christina]

So what if they advertise them when they are young but don't let them go home until they are older?

Far as I know you cant get your ad to go up on gumtree unless you say they are at least 8 weeks old anyway. Its pretty bloody easy to lie about the DOB anyway.

Annoying as it is better that they advertise & find homes for all these animals than do the alternative. That is shot at the back of a paddock, drowned, dumped at a pound or merely dumped anywhere.

Reporting to administration on a site is not going to fix the problem.

What may help, but won't prevent some being bred in the first place, is to insist that everyone has the same rules re microchip, health tests & all the other things that registered breeders have to follow.

The number of give away cats & dogs on that site is heartbreaking but at least its better that they try to re home rather than 1 to 14 days at a pound & then death.

The site suits a useful purpose in some ways when you consider the whole picture.

[Rosetta]

I report the "advertising for a breeding partner" type ads cos they really annoy me - pups for profit