Small Animals Suffer on Gumtree: Report
OOTP wouldn't exist if it wasn't for the online marketplace Gumtree, and all of the animals that have come to us through it. Each evening, we view the new ads for the day, only occasionally intervening.
Our hearts sink each time that we decide that we just can't help. We watch, but try not to see. Or at least, we did.
Warning: this article and attached report contain images and descriptions of animal abuse.
In late May to early June 2024, we analysed every then-active listing for small mammals in Victoria. We uncovered widespread welfare issues, including uncontrolled and unethical breeding, animals used for their flesh or for hunting, an overall poor standard of care, and a lack of appropriate vet work.
We saw animals living in squalor, told by Gumtree’s “report” button that we should report sellers to the RSPCA if we suspected criminal animal abuse. Then realising that the only method of doing so would be to pose as a buyer and obtain the address of these anonymous sellers ourselves. Watching as ads we reported for selling unweaned animals remained up on the site.
We saw many rabbits being fed inappropriate food, and/or living in inappropriate housing.
We cringed at photos of small mammals living outdoors, on wire, on a diet of bird seed. We watched as our message to a breeder giving away an injured rabbit was met with stony silence. The same for two male mice sold together in a tiny lab cage.
Two male mice in a lab cage. The seller said that he would not seperate them, and ignored our message offering to take them.
Male mice, given away and likely to end up as snake food. Conversely, three ad listings from breeders selling “>20” female mice, and no males in sight. Rabbits who “grow like mushrooms.” The amount of compassion varying from seller to seller.
We could do nothing but continue scrolling past listings for frozen rats, tiny cages, a teacher seeking “mice or rats” for a “project” he would not disclose. These things all falling outside the scope of our analysis, but part of the wider picture nonetheless.
A less than ideal cage and a teacher seeking rats and mice for a “project” which he would not confirm to us was safe for the animals.
Hundreds upon hundreds of animals who don’t have anybody truly on their side, existing as living breathing dollar signs, burdens, or meat. The many ways small animals are mistreated in our society all represented in one place.
Truly, it is an issue far beyond Gumtree. It’s in our animal welfare legislation, which makes very little illegal in terms of animal abuse, and in the RSPCA, which has limited power to enforce it when blatant breeches do occur. It’s in pet stores and supermarkets, which sell live animals and products that are not suitable for the species advertised. It’s in veterinarians who often lack experience with and knowledge about their littlest patients.
Supermarkets sell many foods that are not appropriate for small mammals. Excerpt from The Rabbit Doctors “Information: The Ideal Rabbit Diet” webpage.
It’s in overbreeding, rescues being full, and members of the public not having many tools to assist them in rehoming animals themselves. It’s in our culture of impulse spending, which extends to the very lives of so many animals at Christmas, Easter, and birthdays, and the same wastefulness that then see those animals dumped or neglected like fast fashion objects.
We don’t claim to have all of the answers, but we know that change is needed. We know that change does not “occur,” but is made. Passionate individuals must become knowledgable, and must then use their voice to demand practical improvements for small mammals in Victoria.
Step one, for us, is tackling Gumtree. Which does not cause but certainly facilitates a variety of welfare issues. For it is a symptom of these greater issues, and also represents a manageable step in solving more nebulous problems that will require lengthy legislative efforts to affect.
Read our report, share our posts, and tell Gumtree to make this stop: