“Two people in Surrey are under investigation by the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) for allegedly selling sick kittens to at least 11 buyers. The sellers are believed to be using multiple Kijiji and Craigslist accounts to sell sick kittens for between $250 and $1,200 — in parking lots,” as I read AGAIN in the news today. 

Would you rather see the BC SPCA (or any other SPCAs) spending their time caring for homeless animals, running spay/neuter clinics, and saving wildlife instead of fixing the problems that Kijiji are generating? I would! And so would the corporate partners who continue to add pressure to Kijiji by taking down their ads from the site. TELUS, one of the largest telecommunication providers in Canada, recently agreed to stop all paid advertising on Kijiji until action is taken to prohibit the sale of household pets.

Will you take a minute to post on Kijiji's Facebook wall or Twitter right now? 

You could tell them that you hope to hear that they'll be taking immediate steps to ban pet sales — the only way to truly prevent puppy mills and backyard breeders from profiting. You could remind them that if Kijiji is truly committed to prioritizing animal welfare like they say, then they should have no problem referring Quebec buyers to a regulated government website and closing their Pets Category in Quebec.

After 9 years campaigning (yep!), 458,000 signers, 8 major corporations and 31 animal welfare organizations against the practice of selling animals on classified sites, I hope that Kijiji realizes that you, me, and this issue are not going away.

As the largest classifieds site in Canada, Kijiji.ca needs to assume that their leadership on this issue would create a powerful ripple effect, have influence on other sites, and would help prevent tens of thousands of animals from suffering every year while reducing the number of individuals and families needlessly scammed.

Thanks for also sharing this important message. 

Barbara