Kim Basinger Urges Craigslist to Ban Posts with Animals

Contact: media@aldf.org

San Francisco, CA — Today, animal protection advocate and actress Kim Basinger sent a letter to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster with an urgent request the company end all animal posts on its platform. The letter furthers the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s campaign to close a loophole in Craigslist’s policies. The campaign relies heavily on personal stories from users and confirmed reports that many traded animals become victims of abuse, neglect or are obtained for nefarious reasons such as dogfighting. Though Craigslist’s official policy bans the sale of animals, animals continue to be advertised and purchased on Craigslist — many under the guise of “rehoming.”

The Animal Legal Defense Fund received reports of animal cruelty across the United States from users describing purchasing animals riddled with infections and diseases such as Parvo from neglect and unsanitary housing conditions — consistent with puppy mill conditions, scams duping families into paying hundreds to thousands of dollars in deposits or shipping costs—who are ghosted after the money has been received, and schemes to “re-home” animals such as horses that are promptly sold to auctions or buyers intending to sell them for slaughter in Canada or Mexico.

“It’s maddening to see thousands of postings each day from cities across the country of unscrupulous breeders, puppy and kitten mill operators, and dishonest sellers, taking advantage of the Craigslist “rehoming” loophole and duping families into paying exorbitant fees for animals,” says Basinger. “Partnering with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, I implore Craigslist to exercise its ethical and corporate responsibility in seeing to the closure of the animal ‘rehoming’ loophole by prohibiting these posts once and for all.”

“We have heard from an alarming number of families who have been victimized by breeders and animal brokers on Craigslist, not to mention the cruelty and suffering inflicted on the animals themselves,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. “We join Kim Basinger in urging Craigslist to ban users from posting animals to the website for any reason and will continue to shine a light on the ongoing reports we are receiving from victims until the company takes concrete action.”

Additional reports made public in the media illustrate extreme violence toward animals obtained from Craigslist including a serial dog killer who mutilated and killed 29 puppies often using “free to a good home” advertisements on the website to procure them, instances of slaughtering and dismembering of animals, and acts of attempted bestiality.

Today all 50 states have a felony animal cruelty law on record to hold abusers accountable. Each state determines what constitutes cruelty, and the penalties for committing cruelty.