Same old song ... different day

I love going to the woods with the dogs.... and being able to do this every morning is definitely one of the best bits about being retired.  Over the years, I've learned a lot about the landscape.  I'm able to avoid a lot of trouble by knowing which trails fizzle out, how to get up to the ridge / river / old logging road and even the spots where the skunks / deer / foxes and coyotes like to nest. ( If you have to ask why that's important you really should stay out of the woods, eh? )
There is a bag of odds and sods that comes along too.  I seldom need any of it, but have learned not to leave it behind... pliers for cutting ancient barb wire fences or snares ... a cell in a ziplock bag ... a spare leash ... roll of gauze and tape ..  you get the idea.  All inspired by lessons that have usually been learned the hard way.
I know I go on and on like a stuck record about the need for a law to ban the traffic of living breathing sentient beings on Kijiji.  I know there are some rescue folks who use the 'free to a good home' slot to advertise for their rescues.
But yesterday there was an ad, that is still there today, that really highlights the problems with being able to advertise pets online.  A couple are looking for a new pet for their family. Why is that a problem?  Because the 'old pet' didn't work out.  There were "behavioural and aggression issues" so they "had to give it up"
Odds are to even they found the old pet on Kijiji too.  Perhaps as a puppy that this busy family with three kids didn't have time to train ( the subject of how children don't train themselves either is a separate topic for a blog with a different focus than mine ...sigh )
Kijiji is always promising that ads that don't comply with their policies for posting pet ads will be removed ... but remember that is coming from the same folks who somehow let an ad slip through for a baby .
The bottom line is that legislation to ban the traffic of living breathing sentient beings on Kijiji ( whose parent company EBay Does forbid the practice on their site ) and the other free online ad sites, is as much about consumer protection as it is about animal welfare:

• The couple who are looking for the new pet won't get the kind of support and education from the curbside guarantee that will ensure they are getting the pet best suited to their lifestyle and experience.  
• The rescue people who list in the free to a good home could always ask Kijiji to set up a special section for pet adoption from rescue.
• The reputable breeders already have venues they can use to advertise their puppies and would be able to distinguish themselves from the less reputable folks who Don't Do the proper screening before breeding
• If it wasn't so darned easy for people to peddle the kittens and puppies when they were too careless or too cheap to spay the mother, perhaps there would be a public demand for low cost spay neuter clinics.
• And last but definitely not least, it would cut off a free advertising venue that allows people like the Benoits to hide behind a cloak of anonymity and prey on kind hearted people

What time is it?  Its time to let your MLA  and the Minister of Agriculture know that our Nova Scotia needs better protection for pet owners by banning the traffic of living breathing sentient beings on the free online ad sites.