Stop facilitating shady puppy-selling practices

We, the undersigned, respectfully ask you to prohibit the sale of live animals via your site.

There are currently many ads in your classifieds section touting Valentine's Day puppies for sale, but sadly, some come from unscrupulous breeders who are violating the recommendation you post on every listing:

'Be sure to meet any animal and owner in person. Do not buy unless you can ensure that the animals are kept in sanitary and humane conditions.'

In a great many of the ads, sellers offer to ship their puppies, sight unseen, to buyers miles and miles away. And as you know:

1. No one who truly cares about the welfare of her animals would ship one to a complete stranger in another part of the country. These are the actions of a person just looking to make money, not someone interested in the dog's future living conditions.

2. Except under very extreme circumstances, those who truly care about the welfare of their animals do not ship them at all -- a traumatic experience for dogs of any age, but particularly detrimental to puppies.

One example: 'Pettievamp' is selling Cane Corso puppies out of New England at $800 a pop. Shipping is available in the U.S.

Cane Corsos are big, strong, intelligent dogs. They're not a good choice for first-time owners. And if not socialized properly (like any dog) they can become dangerously aggressive around other animals. But Pettievamp is willing to sell you hers, no matter who you are, what you have in mind for the dog, or how able you are to provide the right kind of home.

She even promises:
'All puppies come upto date, health cert. rear dews removed, tails dock,started on puppy pads and puppy pack. Cropping is offered at buyers expense $300(wonderfuly done).'

If as much care is paid to the cropping, docking, and dew claw removal as was to the spelling and punctuation in the ad, what could possibly go wrong?

That's why we're asking you, eBay, to do the right thing: While there's still time before Valentine's Day, eliminate the listings of animals for sale on your site.

Instead use the DogTime/CatTime adoption portal (we call it the "iframe") and provide much-needed exposure to homeless animals in shelters all over the country. eBay-ers can search for the dog or cat of their dreams -- by breed, gender, age, and zip code -- and you, eBay, can facilitate it all for free. Not only that, the iframe lives on your site and maintains the look and feel of eBay without driving away a bit of traffic. You win, and so do the animals.

DogTime and our supporters would be thrilled to hear from you. Thanks so much for taking the time to read our letter.