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‘Shocking’ number of online pet adverts across EU
Nearly all of the charities surveyed (95 per cent) said there was a problem with online pet sales in their country.
New report finds hundreds of thousands of pets up for sale every day

Over half a million cats and dogs are available to buy online every day across Europe, a new report has found, prompting animal welfare groups to call for change.

The Blue Cross and the EU Dog and Cat Alliance put together a snapshot of online adverts for dogs and cats in 21 European countries. On any given day, 400,579 dogs and 104,318 cats were advertised for sale. Thousands of exotic animals were also available to buy.

Many of these pets had health problems, were underweight or underage. A lack of animal welfare information was also a common theme among the adverts. Some websites even encouraged users to buy animals impulsively, with financial loan options highlighted for those who couldn’t afford to buy a pet straight away.

Nearly all of the charities surveyed (95 per cent) said there was a problem with online pet sales in their country.

The Blue Cross said its findings highlight a need for action across Europe to tackle these online adverts, through self-regulatory groups such as the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG), which has already proved successful in the UK and Ireland.

Becky Thwaites, the charity’s head of public affairs, commented: “The findings from our report on the online sale of pets in Europe has shocked us all. The cases of unscrupulous breeders and sellers who prioritise profit over welfare is clearly a growing problem that needs to be tackled.

“We have seen the success that PAAG in the UK has had in removing inappropriate ads, improving the standard of advertising and most importantly, improving the welfare of the animals, and we are confident that the same can be achieved across Europe with additional groups being set up in more European countries.”

The Blue Cross and the EU Dog and Cat Alliance, launched their report in European Parliament last week (27 September). As a result, Marco Valetta, member of the cabinet for the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, pledged to support the new European Pet Advertising Advisory Group.

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RCVS Knowledge appoints Veterinary Evidence editor-in-chief

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has welcomed Professor Peter Cockcroft as editor-in-chief for Veterinary Evidence.

A world-renowned expert in evidence-based veterinary medicine, Prof Cockcroft will lead the strategic development and editorial quality of the open-access journal. He was previously in the role from 2017-2020.

Katie Mantell, CEO of RCVS Knowledge, said: "We are excited about the extensive knowledge of evidence-based veterinary medicine and clinical veterinary research that Peter brings, and we look forward to working with him over this next phase of the journal's development." 

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News Shorts
CVS Group hit by cyber attack

CVS Group, which owns more than 450 veterinary practices in the UK, has been hit by a cyber attack.

In a statement, the group said the incident involved unauthorised external access to a limited number of its IT systems. As soon as the attack was discovered, the group took its IT systems temporarily offline, causing 'considerable operational disruption'.

It has warned that the security steps taken and ongoing plans to move its operational systems and IT infrastructure to the Cloud are likely to have an ongoing impact over a number of weeks.

Due to the risk that personal information was accessed, CVS has informed the Information Commissioner's Office. The company is working with third party consultants to investigate the incident.