A man was recently arrested for acquiring an estimated twelve cats and kittens through Craigslist to brutally torture and kill them. Sadly, we hear about similar cases time and time again in the news.
In 2015, a man was arrested for tying a dog's legs together, muzzling her and setting her on fire while she was still alive. The man got the dog from Craigslist.
In 2013, a man was charged with 22 counts of animal cruelty for torturing kittens he got off of Craigslist. The man told police he had a "cat room" where he would torture the cats and discard their carcasses.
In this most recent case, the alleged animal abuser stomped on the heads of cats and strangled them. After the cats died, he dismembered some of them, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Craigslist provides an avenue for animal abusers to easily obtain animals with little risk of detection. Abusers can use fake email addresses and phone numbers to get animals from unsuspecting pet owners. Unlike reputable shelters and rescues, pet owners looking to find a new home for their animal might not know the right questions to ask.
Shelters and rescues often use application forms, reference checks and home inspections to ensure their pets are going to a safe home.
Craigslist states in its policy that pet sales are prohibited but specifies that "re-homing with small adoption fee ok". Recent cases show us that Craigslist's policy is not enough to protect innocent animals from getting into the hands of depraved animal abusers. There is no clear option for monitoring the transfer of pets to ensure that the animals are only going to safe homes.
Therefore, we need to protect our beloved pets by preventing animal abusers from being able to simply scroll online to find new victims. Craigslist needs to prohibit all ads giving away pets- regardless of whether the seller is charging a fee or not.
