Owners warned over dog fighting danger when buying or selling pets online

There are fears that individuals involved in dog fighting or illegal breeding are using sites such as Gumtree to buy dogs to use as 'bait' for fighting dogs, or be sold on at a profit.

Bradford RSPCA Inspector Sarah Bagley urged owners to be extra careful if they advertise their dogs for sale on Gumtree, or similar websites.

"One of the main things we do is rehome animals and we do thorough home checks on people to ensure they are suitable. But it is very difficult to do those checks on someone you do not know on a website.

"If you are using a website like Gumtree to sell a dog, the best thing to do is choose somebody local and meet them at their house, then you can check where your dog is going to live," Insp Bagley said, adding the website was a popular alternative to eBay, where people cannot sell dogs.

"It's about being extra vigilant, careful and sensible. You wouldn't allow your child to go off with a stranger. It's the same kind of thing," she said.

Insp Bagley has no personal experience of dog fighters using the websites, but said it was an easy way to get hold of one without many questions being asked.

And she said it was not just breeds, like Staffordshire bull terriers, used for fighting, that were at risk.

"If they are using a dog as bait to train a fighting dog, they want something smaller and not aggressive which isn't going to cause injury.

"You could be selling your dog into the fighting game, or it could be going for breeding."

Bradford dog campaigner Julie Fowler said: "The problem with Gumtree is you cannot vet who is coming to view your dog. They can seem lovely and say the dog will be cared for, and then they're not.

"I have heard of people sending their girlfriends with children to make it look like a nice family which is buying, but really they are using it for baiting.

"A lot of people also sell stolen dogs on these websites. They even steal them to order after seeing people advertising for a certain type of dog."

A spokesman for Gumtree said the company took animal welfare very seriously.

"We work with several welfare groups including the RSPCA, PAAG and our own community to ensure our rules and monitoring systems are always up to date.

"We will, at our discretion, remove any ads we believe are indicating signs of or encouraging animal cruelty."

It said it worked closely with law enforcement to ensure protection of animal welfare.

Insp Bagley added: "If people want a rescue animal, come to the RSPCA. We have far too many dogs that need loving homes."