Animal trade over the internet

17januari2007
Source: Novum en Nederlands dagblad
Weekly, ten thousands of pets are being traded over the internet. Thus claim students of the HBO college of animal management in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. The total worth of the animals which are traded over two weeks time is estimated at nine million euro.
Earlier this year, the council of animal matters calculated that weekly 1,2 million euro is spend on the purchasing of pets.

Animal shelters increasingly encounter cats on the internet, only shortly after the animals have been picked up from the shelter. Traders pick up purebred cats from an animal shelter, in order to sell them for a large amount of money on the internet. Throughout the country, kittens are being picked up for free after having been offered online. Purebred cats are sold for 400 to 1000 euro.

The students noted that almost nine hundred different kinds of species were offered, among which arctic foxes, owls and poisonous snakes. For the investigation the twelve biggest advert sites have been analysed for two weeks. This that period more than 26 thousand new ads for animals were placed. The total amount of trade in pets over the internet proved several times larger than was always believed.
The animal protection, as well as interviewed members of the Chamber, believes that the animal trade over the internet ought to be checked better, to prevent illegal practices.