Locanto makes firm commitment to animal welfare

International classifieds platform closes down all buying and selling pets categories

Locanto, a global leader in online classifieds, has announced the closure of all categories on its website where users could buy and sell animals. This decision is setting a precedent in the international field of classifieds and represents Locanto’s firm commitment to the highest standards of animal welfare. The changes affects Locanto portals in over 65 countries all around the world.

Illegal pet trade is a flourishing problem online. Consequently, international classifieds platforms have become a boon for illicit pet trade. Since animal welfare laws vary widely across countries, disreputable breeders have an easy game to make a profit from animals bred in inhuman conditions. Many international, cross border transactions involving different kinds of fraud, illegal trade with endangered species and animal abuse take place on online classifieds platforms. For the site operators it is often very hard to separate legal trade from illegal activities. Locanto is the first big player in the international classifieds scene to take drastic action to stop animal trafficking and abuse on its site.

Users visiting the pet classifieds section on the page are being shown the official announcement from the Locanto Team. The statement put also emphasis on the “Adopt, don’t shop” principle and redirects people interested in rehoming a pet to the most important animal rights organizations in every country.

Klaus Gapp, founder of Locanto, highlights the company’s commitment: “Every single member in our team deeply cares about animals and their protection. We knew that we had to take action after hearing the feedback coming from both our users and diverse animal welfare organizations. For us, closing down these categories was the only way to ensure that Locanto is free from unacceptable practices.”

To that end, Locanto has also tighted up its prohibited content policy: Classifieds advertising pet supplies that can harm animals or cause anxiety are now explicitly forbidden on the site. The platform has also announced improvements in their control mechanisms to detect and remove automatically this type of ads.

As a part of its animal welfare pledge, Locanto is determined to continue building collaborations with leading animal rights organizations.

About Yalwa: Yalwa is a privately-owned Internet company founded by Klaus P. Gapp. Previously, he also founded and operated OpusForum.org, a local classifieds site for the German-speaking market, acquired by eBay in 2005. Since its beginnings in 2006, Yalwa has established itself as the nexus where locals can connect with the information, goods and services they need on a daily basis.

The company operates three portals with focus on classified ads: Locanto, a popular classifieds platform; Yalwa, a local business directory and askalo, relaunched as a search engine for classifieds. Yalwa offers its services in over 65 countries around the globe, covering 6 different languages.

Currently, the Yalwa websites generate altogether more than 10 billion page views per year.

Yalwa GmbH
Eduard Lerperger
Bahnstr. 2
65205 Wiesbaden

on ..: +49 (0) 611 448875-29
web ..: www.yalwa.info/
email : press@locanto.com

This release was published on openPR.