Animal rescuers have asked the public to consider adopting a pet to alleviate the ongoing national shelter crisis.
But remember: There is a right and a wrong way to adopt a pet, say animal rights activists. Unfortunately, online puppy scams usually peak around the holidays.
A Nashville woman who was recently targeted in a scam found a German Shepherd puppy during a Google search before Thanksgiving. She filled out forms and paid $600. Then came demands for more cash, a total of $1,600. According to a report from KSNB News, no puppy ever arrived.
“My husband and I have already named him,” Sally Midyette told the news channel. “It was heartbreaking.”
Some pet adoption websites, including Petfinder, are important and trustworthy. “We want people to look for pets,” said Temma Martin from Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit organization in Utah. Many other websites are unknown to animal rights activists and may be unworthy.
Most puppies sold online “come from puppy mills, commercial breeding facilities that benefit from breeding dogs in dirty and inhumane conditions,” said Richard Patch, vice president of federal affairs for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
Puppies raised by commercial breeders are protected by the Federal Animal Welfare Act of 1966, which sets minimum standards for care. Federal law enforcement agencies have observed “hundreds of violations of the law,” but rarely act to revoke a breeder’s license or confiscate mistreated animals, according to Patch.
Last December, lawmakers introduced Goldie’s Act, named after Golden Retriever No. 142, an unnamed animal that died in an Iowa puppy factory licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The measure, which aims to strengthen federal enforcement, was not passed by the House of Representatives.
In the meantime, animal rights activists are advising potential adopters to beware of online pet ads. You might even spot one between the lines of this article: Pet sellers are flocking to pet-related content. Don’t assume that every retailer is legitimate and consider completely avoiding digital platforms when looking for a new pet.
Here’s a list of reasons why you shouldn’t buy a holiday puppy online, from Best Friends and the ASPCA.
1. You risk online fraud.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) saw a dramatic increase in pet scams during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a single month during the 2020 Christmas season, the BBB recorded 337 complaints about pet scams. The average complainant lost $750.
Online puppy fraudsters “post puppies for sale that don’t exist, using stock images or photos stolen from other websites,” said Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends. The scammer may send photos and videos of a non-existent pet. They often ask for a large deposit in a mobile payment app, and then there are last-minute requests for more money, ostensibly for urgent vaccinations or special travel crates.
“By the time the buyer realizes they’ve been duped, the seller has disappeared, their number blocked, or even moved their website,” Castle said.
2. You may end up with an unhealthy puppy.
Even if a seller has a real puppy on sale, the animal may come from a puppy factory.
Many puppies sold online “are born and raised in factory-like, inhumane environments,” says Castle, “where dogs are seen as cash.” Dogs from puppy factories can have a wide variety of health and behavioral problems resulting from “unhygienic living conditions, inbreeding, poor food quality, as well as lack of medical care and positive social contacts between people.”
3. You risk being deceived by false marketing
Puppy cheaters can say and show what they want. Online retailers often offer advertising claims such as “USDA-licensed” or “grown by a professional breeder” to gain trust, according to Castle. Scammers “can hide behind attractive websites that display stock photos of adorable photos raised by families, frolicking in fields or napping in wicker baskets.”
Online customers may never see the true circumstances in which their puppy grew up. Without a personal visit, they may never know whether the claims are correct.
“It’s almost impossible to know whether an online breeder or seller is responsible or trustworthy, or whether they’re actually a puppy factory,” said Patch from the ASPCA.
4. They would maintain an “inhumane” industry.
“As long as people continue to buy puppies from online retailers,” Castle said, “the inhumane puppy mill industry will persist.”
Research suggests that younger Americans, Generation Z and millennials, know less about pet adoption than older consumers and are more likely to purchase pets from stores, breeders, or online retailers, according to Castle.
“The best way to end puppy mills is to curb demand by not buying from retailers that sell puppies from these sources,” she said.
5. Adopting a pet saves lives.
The “no-kill” movement promised to stop killing pets in shelters by 2025. Since 2016, the annual number of animals killed in animal shelters has fallen from 2 million to around 350,000. In 2021, however, the number of pets killed rose again from 347,000 to 355,000.
Unless pet adoption keeps pace with the addition of shelters, 2022 could end with an even larger number of animals dying, animal rights activists say. Shelters are expecting a flood of holidays to find homes for thousands of idle, ownless pets.
“We encourage anyone who wants to add a new pet to their family to consider adopting from a shelter or shelter, or to see a responsible breeder,” said Patch.