Buying and selling animals on sites such as Facebook encourages people to regard these intelligent, lovable beings as mere commodities to be purchased and then dumped on a whim. An animal acquired via a classified ad is also highly likely to have come from a puppy farm or an unethical breeder – people who exploit animals for profit, contributing to the severe companion-animal overpopulation crisis. Shelters across the world are reporting a rise in the number of dogs coming through their doors, and every time someone buys a dog from a breeder, online or pet shop, one of these abandoned animals loses his or her chance at finding a permanent home. Animals are not objects, and selling any live animal – regardless of where the sale occurs – is unacceptable. We’ve already written to facebook asking that it ban advertisements from animal breeders on its site. You can be part of the solution, too: if you’re considering welcoming a new animal companion into your home, don’t buy