Final signature count: 78,298

78,298 signatures toward our 100,000 goal

Sites like Craigslist may be affordable and easy to use, but there is a certain amount of risk involved whenever you sell or purchase on the site. Nowhere is this fact more worrisome than in the “free,” “wanted,” and “farm & garden” categories, where animals are bought and sold.

Technically, Craigslist prohibits the sale of animals on its platform, but a loophole in the Craigslist terms of use allows animals to be traded for a “rehoming fee1.”

This loophole is exploited heavily.

Rarely are buyers and sellers in this section conducting home visits or checking personal or veterinary references. This corner of the internet poses as an adoption agency with no standards or oversight2.

Backyard breeders trading in sickly animals that appear reputable to the unsuspecting eye can use Craigslist to scam adopters who take the animals into their homes under false pretenses. Pet flippers who adopt pets for low fees from shelters also use the platform to sell the animals to the highest bidder.

In Raleigh, N.C., a family was scammed out of $300 and left heartbroken after a Craiglist pet seller gave them a sick, dying puppy3.

In the San Fernando Valley, an 11-year-old girl and her family mourned the loss of a new puppy, just five days after receiving it from a Craigslist seller4. The family say they contacted the woman who sold them the dog, but she denied the transaction ever took place.

In Sugar Land, Texas, a professional mixed martial arts fighter was charged with trapping a bobcat, failing to provide it with food and water and then attempting to sell the animal on Craigslist for $1,0005.

An Indiana woman reportedly made and distributed animal “crush” videos — in which she hanged, skinned, and otherwise tortured and killed cats and dogs she’d obtained via Craigslist and other websites6.

And in one of the most horrifying acts of cruelty, a man used Craigslist to obtain 29 free dogs. He then mutilated and tortured the dogs in front of his kidnapped and horrified girlfriend. The man was later sentenced to up to 45 years behind bars 7.

People have also been known to acquire free animals to act as bait in dog fights, while others look for free smaller animals, like mice or rabbits, as free food for their pet snakes.

Craigslist reaches practically every major city in the United States, which only underlines the urgency of this issue. Millions of animals are at risk of being exploited through these loopholes.

Sign the petition below and demand Craigslist ban any and all buying, selling, and giving away of animals on their site. Not tomorrow or the next day, but now.