Introduction: Interventions to protect the welfare of unwanted dogs and cats have concentrated traditionally on those entering shelters, with most research also concentrated in this area. However, the internet is pervading all aspects of human life, and dogs and cats are also traded on the internet. This study aimed to determine the number and types of dogs and cats relinquished on a popular Australian website for pets.
Methodology: Data from gumtree.com.au were extracted using the BeautifulSoup module in python (version 3.2.1) over ~3 weeks for dogs and cats in February 2016. Pets were identified as relinquished if: 1) there was a statement a new home was being sought 2) they were offered for free at any age, and 3) if they were older than 16 weeks of age with no indication they were offered as a pup and not yet sold. Data on breed, cross/purebred status, owner/breeder status, age, price and State/Territory were collected.
Main Results: A total of 2640 ads for dogs (Feb 7 to 24, 2016) and 2093 ads for cats (Feb 9 to 26, 2016) were identified as relinquished animals. Just over half of dogs were purebred (51%) with the top three breeds the Staffordshire Terrier, Kelpie, and American Staffordshire Terrier. A minority of cat ads included breed – in those that did the Ragdoll and Domestic Shorthair were the most common breeds. In 23% of dog ads and 62% of cat ads the animal was offered for free. Using extrapolation, it was estimated the Gumtree ads represent ~14% of the dogs entering RSPCA shelters in a year.
Principal Conclusions and Implications for Field: We estimate thousands of dogs and cats are relinquished on a popular Australian website per year. Only one website was analysed, and if other websites and social media (e.g. Facebook®) could be measured this would represent >14% of the population entering RSPCA shelters. It will be important for future research priorities and interventions to help un-wanted animals to include the internet as a platform used by owners relinquishing their pets.