Excerpts from my recent correspondence to Scott Neil, CEO of Kijiji Canada, and Dipan Patel, Co-CEO at Permira:

Me: “The commercial sale of animals through Kijiji perpetuates a deeply problematic ecosystem that systematically undermines animal welfare and consumer protection, characterized by:

• Entrenching unethical breeding practices that prioritize profit over animal health, resulting in genetic vulnerabilities and chronic medical conditions;
• Creating a pipeline that sustains and financially rewards puppy mills and irresponsible breeding operations;
• Generating cascading harm to consumers through significant, often unpredictable veterinary expenses that impose substantial financial and emotional burdens;
• Causing profound personal and professional disruption, with pet owners experiencing diminished workplace productivity and emotional distress when managing the health challenges of animals acquired through Kijiji.

Posting policies put in place by Kijiji are good steps toward protecting animal welfare, upholding Canadian laws and keeping our communities safe. The responsible thing to do now is for Kijiji to enforce their posting policies. Puppy mills and unethical breeders may continue to exist even if Kijiji Canada reviews pets ads BEFORE they go live, but at least it would prevent some animals from suffering while reducing the number of individuals and families needlessly scammed.

I did a quick search on Kijiji and found ads offering dogs for free, despite Kijiji’s policy stating that dogs and puppies cannot be listed as free.

Kijiji does not have a similar policy for cats and kittens, allowing people to give them away for free on your platform.

My question to Scott Neil, CEO of Kijiji Canada : Will Kijiji halt commercial animal sales—exclusively promoting adoptions through registered rescue groups and shelters, and family pet rehoming with modest adoption fees—until all provinces and territories mandate license numbers in pet breeder advertisements, following New Brunswick's example? At a minimum, will Kijiji implement human moderation to review pet ads for pet posting policy compliance before publication?”

—Barbara
 

Stay tuned for the answer from Kijiji Canada.

Photo of classified ad by Cory Doctorow via Unsplash