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Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters
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Kijiji and Calgary Humane Society to inspect breeders advertising online April 11, 2012 Calgary Herald CALGARY — A new partnership between the Calgary Humane Society and Kijiji Canada aims to bring a new level of certainty to online pet adoption. The partnership, announced today, will see the humane society inspecting and certifying breeder listings on the online classified ads site through the new Breeder Inspection Program. Shawn McIntyre, the community relations manager for Kijiji Canada, said the program has been in the works for “quite some time,” and that the humane society has put a significant amount of work into developing the inspection checklist. “This will provide our clients with that extra layer of confidence when searching for a companion pet online,” McIntyre said. Customers will be able to see which breeders have been certified by looking for a badge on the classified ad. McIntyre said the hope is the badge will be something breeders seek. The stamp of approval will add a level of assurance that the animals are coming from a good home, humane society spokesperson Christy Thompson said. “Online sale of pets is growing, and we’re seeing the end of pet store (adoptions), so this program will help make it a better process,” Thompson said. The humane society hired an experienced animal health technologist, a position akin to a nurse, to develop the checklist for inspections. The technologist will also conduct the inspections. According to Thompson, the checklist will include where the animal is sleeping, what type of shelter is available, the supply of food and water, the nutritional value of the food available to a mother nursing her pups, how many animals are living in the house, cleanliness, available space, and if a vet is inspecting the animals. The program is the first of its kind in Canada, she said, and has come as a result of past issues involving puppy mills, and seriously ill animals coming from breeders, among other issues. Kijiji has dedicated ad reviewers for all listings, and under the new program they will identify breeder listings and then contact the humane society to have an inspection done. McIntyre described Calgary as a “sort of testing ground” for the program, and Kijiji will be looking for interest from other organizations like the Calgary Humane Society elsewhere around the country. “It’s certainly a dream of ours to expand the program to other cities,” McIntyre said. Customers can expect to see the certification badges on Kijiji Canada by the end of April, which McIntyre said will be helped by the fact that it has received volunteer breeders to go through the inspection process. Kijiji has over 2,000 pet listings including cats, dogs, birds and other animals. NB: This initiative was scrapped. Kijiji pet safety initiative found little following in Calgary May 7, 2014 Metro Just a handful of pet breeders signed on for a now-scrapped Calgary program launched two years ago that aimed to improve safety for selling furry friends online. In April 2012, the Calgary Humane Society teamed with Kijiji to offer a certification program for those purchasing and selling animals through the popular online classifieds site. Prospective customers and pet breeders could contact Kijiji and then have a Humane Society employee dispatched to survey the living conditions and overall health of a pet up for sale. But society spokesperson Christy Thompson said Tuesday just eight breeders participated over a period of six months and her organization cancelled the program outright about a year ago. “It just sort of floated off,” she said. Safety with selling pets online has been thrust back into the spotlight in recent days following two more grisly criminal cases involving Kijiji. On Monday, investigators announced they’ve charged 19-year-old Nicolino Ivano Camardi with two counts of willfully causing unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal, It’s alleged Camardi starved both a dog and cat and also beat the latter animal before dumping the bodies of both in a Willow Park-area alley. As well, in late April, Ashley Onen was fined $7,000 and banned from purchasing pets for a decade after being convicted with crimes related to the sale of numerous malnourished and injured animals on Kijiji. Yuliya Fedyw had been following news of the Willow Park killings and admitted it made her more apprehensive when offering her cat Storm free of charge on Kijiji. She’s scheduled to move at week’s end to an apartment that prohibits pets. On Tuesday, Fedyw was due to meet with a woman interested in her cherished feline, but had not committed to handing her over. “I will only do it if I get a good feeling,” she said. “It helps that she has a few kids, for sure. I’d rather give her to a family in a good home.” Thompson encouraged people in circumstances similar to Fedyw to consider turning over their pets to the Humane Society, who will properly screen potential adopters. She said the organization has not euthanized an adoptable animal in two years. “If they (pet owners) need to give up their animals — we are exactly the place for that,” she said. Related news: Fitting sentence unlikely if scumbag accused of starving and torturing two animals he got off Kijiji is found guilty Too many unwanted pets - spay/neuter saves lives; SpayAid BC |