Sign the Petition (2024)

Started

June 13, 2022

Petition to

Petfinder Quality Petfinder and

Petfinder, and parent company Purina, is not allowing horses or other animals rescued out of the slaughter pipeline to be posted on their adoption platform website. Petfinder has told Horse Plus Humane Society, and other organizations who rescue horses at auctions, that their Petfinder accounts would be deactivated if they continue to rescue horses and other animals out of the slaughter pipeline by saving them at auctions. They have followed through with their policy and are now deactivating horse welfare organizations’ accounts.

Petfinder's recent and current policy for Terms of Service and Code of Conduct Agreement does not allow horses or other animals rescued out of the slaughter pipeline to be posted on their adoption site. Petfinder has deactivated accounts of organizations that pay the slaughter price to rescue horses or other animals out of the slaughter pipeline, even accounts that have otherwise been in great standing for over 10 years. Petfinder’s actions directly impact horse welfare; this means that more horses will be slaughtered, more horses will be euthanized, and fewer horses will find adoptive homes.

Please sign this petition and encourage Petfinder to reconsider their Terms of Service and Code of Conduct. Including a simple phrase could save animals who suffer horrific fates in the slaughter pipeline: “Pets posted on Petfinder may not have been obtained in a manner that has provided profit for any commercial or individual pet breeder or seller. An exemption is made for horses and farm animals who would otherwise be slaughtered for human consumption if not rescued by paying actual slaughter price.”
(Petfinder Terms of Service and Code of Conduct can be found at: https://pro.petfinder.com/tos/)

Every year, thousands of horses are exported into Mexico and Canada for slaughter. By pushing organizations to stop rescuing horses out of the slaughter pipeline via their non-inclusive Terms of Service, Petfinder is ultimately encouraging horse slaughter. They are punishing animals who, through no fault of their own, are in the slaughter pipeline and could be saved; unfortunately, Petfinder will not allow organizations to post adoptable animals on their platform if the animal has been saved by paying the slaughter price.

Petfinder's Terms of Service puts Petfinder at odds with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal's (ASPCA) position on rescuing horses that are bought and sold for slaughter on a daily basis. The ASPCA has done extensive research on this topic and concluded that rescuing horses from livestock auctions is a legitimate way to save them from slaughter. The ASPCA states on their website: “Help horses long before they end up in bail-out situations by sourcing from law enforcement/animal control, owner surrenders, direct sources such as off-the-track racehorses, Bureau of Land Management (BLM)/wild horse corrals, or if necessary, purchases from legitimate livestock auctions…”

For over two decades Petfinder has been an amazing adoption platform for rescued animals. Petfinder's current Terms of Service and Code of Conduct ultimately sends more animals to a horrific death because of their push to prevent rescued horses from finding homes through their platform.