Tell Preloved to stop allowing advertisers to give away pets for free

Preloved.co.uk is allowing people to give away their pets for FREE on their website, which also features wardrobes, garden equipment etc.

We all know the dangers that occur from indecrimiate rehoming of pets and may recall that when Gumtree and other free websites allowed pets to be given away on their site -some of the animals ended up being neglected, abused or as bait in dog fighting.  

Preloved say they take animal welfare seriously and have included adoption guidance advice and other educational materials on the site, BUT they also admit that "Unfortunately, as much of this work is behind the scenes, people don't get to see it."

Knowing that not everyone sees their guidance, Preloved still allows people to give away their pets for free or ask punters to make them an offer for an unwanted animal, and so putting them at risk. It seems the site's rehoming advice is there to protect Preloved and not the animals that are on their site.

Preloved have said they know that not all buyers and sellers have animal best interests at heart, but said that "these are the minority". Really!!! Many animal welfare agencies would disagree. 

They say that IF people report incidents of cruelty to animals rehomed through the site, "a picture soon builds of who these people are, and we are able to exclude them from using Preloved in the future." 

What??? So they are prepared to wait for an incident to occur before taking action and then they will 'build a picture' before they decide to ban an advertiser? How many incidents of cruelty need to be reported while they build a 'picture' and exclude advertisers? And how many incidents are not reported? 

Preloved is a fab site if you want to get rid of things - but animals are not things. The company does not specialise in animal rehoming. It provides advice that they admit is not seen, which means any effort they might show to protect animals is actually protecting their own backs.

Please lets put our voices together and tell Preloved not to wait until for an animal cruelty incident to happen before taking action. Tell them to stop putting animals at risk on their site by letting them be offered for free. Send them a message that animals are not inanimate possessions and should be excluded from their website. Please sign this petition and let's speak out together before an animal becomes a victim through Preloved.co.uk. Thank you.