Quikr has ended animal sales and pet trading: PETA India
Animal rights body PETA India on Wednesday claimed that e-retailer Quikr has ended "animal sale" on its portal and taken down "pet trading" advertisements after the NGO appealed to it and also mounted pressure. The NGO had alleged in 2018 that Quikr was allowing users, including dog breeders, to sell live animals, leading to violation of animal-welfare regulations.
Quikr continues to take down advertisements from dog breeders pretending to offer allowed products or services even now, but as of Tuesday, it had managed to remove all of the problematic ads, the NGO said. "Quikr removed the pet adoption category that allowed dog breeders/pet shops to trade in animals under the guise of adoption on 1st December," it claimed in a statement.
"Following pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, e-retailer Quikr has followed the lead of OLX India by ending its animal sales, although there is still work to be done to make the site totally animal-friendly," it said in a statement.
According to PETA India, the portal's pets section says, "Quikr has discontinued listings related to the sale of any animals on its platform and any listings of this nature would be deleted." "If you are in the business of selling pet food, accessories, or providing pet training & grooming, or have a pet clinic, you can post your ad in the respective relevant category."
The NGO said the move came after PETA India's Person of the Year, and long-time supporter, John Abraham wrote to Quikr. PETA India had also appealed to the company as well as state animal welfare boards and animal husbandry departments, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) regarding this.
"As a result, the AWBI advised the MeitY that e-commerce platforms must not trade in live animals without being registered as 'pet shops' with state animal welfare boards, and the Karnataka Animal Welfare Board ordered Quikr to withdraw all live-animal advertisements within the state," the statement said. They have also been directed to immediately remove animal trade postings of the state from their websites.
The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Rules, 2017 and 2018 require every pet shop and dog breeding establishment to obtain registration as per rules. "Quikr had never acquired such a registration and failed to ensure that its users had one either," PETA claimed.
