Yahoo! Auctions: Selling Animals Short

Despite its policy stating that “any item that infringes the rights of a third party” is prohibited from being listed or sold, Yahoo! Inc.’s Auction site for Taiwan has been allowing the sale of dogs, cats, birds, and many other animals—all third parties with their own interests and rights.

Of course, Yahoo! has no way of ensuring—nor does the company pretend to try—that animals sold will be given a proper home/living environment or even that they are shipped safely and humanely. Yahoo! avoids responsibility for such concerns with the disclaimer that “[s]ellers and buyers are completely responsible for working out the sale and exchange of goods” that are carried out related to the auctions that it hosts.

Nonetheless, the company reserves the right to “refuse, reject or remove any listing in Yahoo!’s sole discretion.” Items—which animals are clearly not—must adhere to the company’s policies.
In other words, Yahoo! has the ability to end this inhumane trade in live animals, unless that trade is in accordance with its operating principles. For more information on Yahoo! Auction guidelines, click here.

Please contact Yahoo! Inc. officials to let them know that animals are not trinkets or objects and that selling any live animals, regardless of where the sale takes place, is unacceptable. Ask that they cease being party to an inhumane and potentially fatal trade and implement a stringent program to monitor and immediately remove new live-animal listings. It is essential that all correspondence be polite and professional:
 

Mr. Terry Semel, CEO
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
408-349-3300
408-349-3301 (fax)

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