By Thom Kennedy

Last updated at 19:13, Friday, 23 January 2009

A website designed for offloading household goods is being used to get rid of unwanted pets, an animal charity has warned.

Cats and other animals are being offered through the Carlisle Freecycling website, on which web users offer their unwanted household goods.

One guinea pig was rehomed three times through the website, and Joanne Park, fosterer and volunteer for Animal Concern Cumbria’s North Lakes and Solway branch, has warned moving animals about in such a way is unhealthy.

She said: “There is a great list of items on this website, and in among them is a six-year-old cat.

“It is in among kettles and computers and you start to think, we are going to start seeing them at car boot sales before long.

“There is a lot more commitment involved in taking on somebody’s cat than taking on somebody’s kettle.”

Animals are appearing on the website, which has more than 2,000 users, as often as once a week.

It is usually used for people to exchange household goods, preventing them from being sent to landfill.

Miss Park added: “There is no doubt that Freecycle is a very worthwhile organisation and has a great role to play in the recycling world

“However why people consider this to be an appropriate forum for advertising unwanted pets is beyond me.

“The whole purpose of Freecycle is to prevent unwanted items being sent to landfill, surely animals cannot and should not be offered in this vein?

“I think people should be approaching the local rescues, like ourselves and the Cats’ Protection League, before they go on a Freecycle site to look for a pet. We are inundated at the moment because of how things are, and we might not be able to take things straight away, but we can help with things like advertising.”

Cats tend to be the animal offered most regularly on the site, for a variety of reasons.

One Freecycle user offered their cat on the site after becoming pregnant.

Another Freecycler, who used the site to get two guinea pigs, was forced to keep one in the bath because they fought in their cage.

Kevin Kerr, the branch’s cats and small animals co-ordinator, said: “There isn’t such thing as a cheap dog, people are just looking for something they shouldn’t be getting.”

A spokesman for Carlisle Freecycle said there was a set of guidelines for advertising pets, but it was not the place of the site’s moderators to control things advertised legally.

She said: “It’s not up to me to have a personal opinion, I have a number of roles as a moderator, but it’s not my place to judge whoever is posting things.

“It is for the members to decide whether they are willing to respond to posts.”

People using Freecycle can keep contact details of where their pet had gone.

If you have concerns about pets contact Animal Concern Cumbria on 016974 76613.

First published at 05:14, Friday, 23 January 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk