With the current increase of pet thefts during the pandemic, it is shocking that an app allowing the sale of dogs (without any home checks, health checks, microchip checks- or even seeing a puppy with its mother) has been approved in the App Store.

Lucy’s Law-The law came into effect in April 2020, with licensed commercial traders no longer allowed to sell kittens or puppies as pets if they were less than six months old and they had not been bred by the seller- this app offers no protection to buyers- and importantly no protection for the animals being sold on.

The use of a single video as a selling point does not allow for homes to be found for the animals which will uphold the basic care needs- to put it simply there is no accountability on this app.

It has also become apparent that the ‘Community Managers’ of the app have been contacting the owners of missing dogs to ask them to list with the app. There is no offer of support in helping to reunite pets, and they have used details from other public websites to make unsolicited contact.

 

Users are free to act how they wish, which on the whole I would hope would be honourably and with the animals's best interest. However, frequent sellers (or possibly unlicensed breeders) are not highlighted or asked to show evidence of a breeding license. There is also a concern with the sharing of personal details on a public platform-  as well as sending unsolicited WhatsApp messages to missing dog owners, certain 'members' are copying adverts found elsewhere on the internet- no vetting or safety has been address, but it seems to be a method to appear as a more popular platform with many adverts. Likewise, members who appear to be 'private' members of the public are uploading adverts from all over the country- this concerns me as no one is questioning how a private member of the public can be advertising pets from both London, Cambridge and Manchester? At least with other websites such as Pets4Homes, frequent and prolific advertisers are highlighted and buyers are warned of this.  

 

Finally, in accordance to apple's service agreements, under the Submissions Guidelines, it states that you may not-

-post any materials that (i) you do not have persmission, right or license to use, or (ii) infringe on the rights of any third party

-post objectionable, offensive, unlawful, deceptive, inaccurate, or harmful content, 

-post personal, privaye or confidential information belonging on others,

-impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with another person, or entity,

This is just a small section of breaches identified so far. When trying to research on the app store directly, the developer website just gives a link back to the app, which has no contact in regards to complaints. Even more worryingly, the privacy policy is non-existent and likewise give a link to go back to re-open the app. 

 

Please keep signing and sharing, I will share updates as much as possible- pets are not just property!!

 

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