Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Further Written evidence submitted by David Ward

I would like to submit some information regarding the regular online sales of banned breeds of dogs to be considered during your consultation on dog welfare. In particular I would like to draw your attention to huge loopholes within current legislation which means that website operators are not liable for the classified ads they host. It is also important to realise too that some online classified sites use automated systems to process these ads which means that they are not viewed by trained individuals prior to going live. As you can imagine this has meant the internet has become a very attractive outlet for unscrupulous breeders of banned breeds as they are rarely challenged by the website providers. Additionally some websites do not require users to register a home address or even a landline telephone number. This means the traceability of these breeders of banned dogs is more or less nil and breeders are largely getting away with selling these dogs and making a lot of money which is encouraging further breeding. On most websites stating the breed of a dog for sale is optional which has lead to coded language being developed in order to communicate the (banned) breed). Examples of this coded language could be “red nose”, “American staff”, “U.S. dog” etc.

I noted during the recent EFRA committee meeting that all of the welfare groups who attended were also concerned about the largely unregulated sales of animals online and as part of PAAG have drafted a set of minimum standards they would like to see websites adopt. These would, however, be voluntary and this is where the efficacy of these guidelines will unravel as there are many unscrupulous breeders and animal traffickers who are unlikely to adjust their behaviour. This is why there needs to be a review of the laws and regulations governing the sale of animals online. The internet is quickly taking over from the traditional pet shops as a way for people to sell/purchase animals but the laws relating to pet shops are not appropriate to the internet sales sites. Puppy farmers and backyard breeders are regularly using the internet to sell puppies but it is very easy for them to pose as private sellers selling one off litters/puppies.

I am part of a group who regularly monitor the website gumtree, which is one of the UK’s largest free classifieds websites offering animals for sale. We have evidence of pit bulls and other banned breeds being openly sold on the site on a regular basis. The breeds are blatantly announced and gumtree have done little to remove these ads when we report them. Some ads have reappeared soon after being removed with the wording slightly edited but the dogs are exactly the same dogs. We know this because the telephone numbers and pictures are exactly the same as the removed ads. This means banned breeds are being sold regularly and websites are not doing enough to prevent this. The Pet Advertising Advisory Group have tried to improve the situation but after 18 months of monitoring we are still finding banned breeds being openly trading on gumtree. There are banned breeds of dogs for sale right now on gum tree and this is likely to remain a very big problem unless legislation is introduced to hold the website owners to account. Currently they simply remove the ad but by the time the ads are removed the pups could have already been sold thus encouraging further breeding of banned breeds. These websites need to be seen as an urgent area for review as currently the regulations are not covering internet sales of animals.

October 2012