Dogs and cats dumped on internet

26 June 2007

BRUSSELS – The website 2dehands.be has noticed a two-fold increase in the number of dogs and cats offered for sale on its site at the moment. It seems as if pet owners who see their pet as an obstacle to going on holiday are turning en masse to the internet.

There are usually about 7,000 animals for sale on 2dehands.be; that number has leapt to more than 10,000 now. “Particularly the number of dogs and cats has doubled,” says site manager Linda Schaake. “Yesterday we had 2,602 advertisements for dogs, 875 for cats. We’ve never seen numbers like this before. Many birds, guinea pigs and other pets are also suddenly turning up in large numbers. People often write in the ad that they just don’t know what to do with their pet. The animal shelters and kennels are full in mid summer.”

A great number of people are advertising not to sell their pet, but are in search of somewhere to have them looked after while they go on holiday.

This doesn’t surprise dog kennel owners in the least. “Year after year we have an increase in the number of pets in mid summer, from mid July to mid August,” says Nancy De Winter of animal kennel De Leibeekhoeve.

“For several years now we have been providing extra capacity in this period. But for the weekend of 21 July even that isn’t enough. We can barely keep up with demand.”

Subject: Belgian news