The pet trade

Who we are:

Rescue Not Retail is a UK-based campaign group that raises awareness of animal exploitation in the pet trade. 

The global pet industry is growing, fast. It’s currently valued at around USD 320 billion, and forecasts predict it will reach USD 500 billion by 2030. All around the world, people are buying more and more animals to keep in their homes. But at what cost?

Not many people know about the reality of the pet trade. But if you buy an animal - whether from a breeder, pet shop, or online - you are supporting an industry that treats animals as commodities. Some animals sold as pets are taken from their homes in the wild and transported to dealers and shops in countries all over the world. Others are bred intensively in breeding mills. Before being sold, animals may be transported long distances with limited or no access to food and water. And the only thing that many of them have to look forward to is a life spent mostly in a cage. Snakes may be kept in cages that don’t allow them to stretch, fishes are seen as nothing more than decorations, and hamsters are often marketed to children. 

We believe that buying pets is never acceptable. That’s because animals are sentient beings with their own lives to live, not objects for humans to do as they please with. What’s more, animal abandonment is on the rise in many countries. Shelters across the UK, for example, have stated they’re at “crisis point” with the rise in animals to look after, as people realise that they are not equipped to look after them. This is a key issue with treating animals as commodities: humans who buy animals do not fully grasp how much time and money goes into taking care of them. Despite this, humans continue to demand new pets. And the pet industry continues to make money off them. 

The UK pet industry

In the UK specifically, the pet industry is big business. Around 57% of households keep an animal. In the country, there are approximately:

• 38 million non-aquatic pets

• 100 million aquatic pets

• 3,000 pet shops

The most popular UK pets include dogs, cats, fishes, birds, rabbits, tortoises, turtles, and snakes. 

Let’s end pet shop animal sales

We envisage a world where no animal is sold at all. But first, we want to see an end to live animals in pet shops. In 2020, the UK government banned the sale of dogs and cats by third party sellers like pet shops with a piece of legislation called Lucy’s Law. This means that these animals must be bought directly from breeders. We don’t believe it’s ever acceptable to buy animals, but Lucy’s Law was a step in the right direction. We want to see all pet animals offered greater protections. 

The UK rescue crisis

At Rescue Not Retail, we do not disagree with companion animals. On the contrary, we believe that adopting animals from shelters and giving them a better life should be encouraged as much as possible by those who are able. We believe that everybody who has done thorough research and is fully prepared and wanting to welcome an animal into their family should adopt them. If adopting is not possible for whatever reason, they should not acquire an animal. The reason we believe this is because buying animals from the pet trade supports an industry that uses them for profit. But animals do not exist for human use. They should be free to live life on their own terms. We want to see a world where there’s no price on any animal’s life.