Scared. Sick. Abused. Torn away from their mothers at just a few weeks old, and sold online to an unwitting owner in a country far away. This is the devastating reality for hundreds of thousands of puppies bred in horrendous conditions as part of a ruthless moneymaking machine, sometimes referred to as the puppy mafia.

Online classified ad sites, such as those owned by eBay are an important cog in this machine. People can sell puppies anonymously on eBay’s classified ad sites around the world, making it very easy to sell illegal, sick and mistreated animals. eBay knows about the cruel business on its ad sites but it is doing very little to address the situation. Let us push them into action!

This industry is driven by a network of breeders, transporters and dealers which operate together like a criminal gang. There’s an easy way to stop the puppy mafia: mandatory seller identity verification would require sellers to provide a form of identification to sell animals—effectively stopping anonymous, untraceable sales.

Time and again, SumOfUs members have been fighting for animal rights and against cruelty. We pushed Delta Airlines to stop the transport of animal trophies and got pharma giant MSD to cut all ties with horse blood farms in South America. Now, together with our partners from Four Paws, we want to stop the puppet cruelty.

Ask eBay to protect puppies and stop the puppy mafia!