Standing up for pets on World Animal Day
You can help us end the cruel pet trade
Imagine, your friend has bought a sick puppy online. After a short time, the puppy appears to be sick, and is rushed to a vet. Your friend is burdened with huge vet bills, and all attempts to contact the puppy seller fail - his phone number does not work anymore. All your friend knows about the dog is the microchip number, but when the vet checks it against the pet registration database, there are no details about who bred, sold or last owned the animal.
So, your friend is now out-of-pocket, has a sick dog with mysterious origins, and they cannot ask the seller or breeder for help. This inability to identify and trace everyone who breeds or sells puppies is one of the drivers of the illegal puppy trade in the European Union.
FOUR PAWS campaigners are calling for stronger legislation and regulations to protect our companion animals from unscrupulous dealers. So situations like the one described above become a thing of the past.
Here’s a snapshot of what we’re doing:
- We are calling for traceability of dogs and cats at the EU and national levels, so every time a puppy is sold or purchased, the new owner can know for sure who has been responsible for the animal previously.
- We’re promoting responsible ownership of dogs and cats via the CARO project (Companion Animal Responsible Ownership). Check out the CAROdog and CAROcat resources available: www.carodog.eu and www.carocat.eu
- We’re campaigning for online classifieds sites to implement technical systems that identify puppy sellers. We’ve already seen a number of successes due to our Thanks eBay campaign!
