Animal Abuser Selling Pets on Kijiji Despite Lifelong Ban

(CBC)

Nova Scotia resident Gail Benoit was convicted on animal cruelty charges in 2009 for selling sick and malnourished puppies. As a result she was banned from buying, selling or giving away any animals. That ban has since ended.

In 2014 she was barred from buying or selling domestic or wild animals after being prosecuted for stealing and selling two dogs from a woman in New Brunswick. That court order has also expired, however Kijiji has a lifetime ban against her using their services.

Despite the ban, a Halifax area man, Justin Killen, recently purchased two kittens through Kijiji from Benoit.

"My friend had posted a picture of Gail Benoit, and I immediately, after seeing the pictures, knew exactly who I dealt with — you know, just the spitting image of her and the pictures were just exactly the same,” Killen told CBC.

Shawn McIntyre, a spokesman for Kijiji, confirmed to CBC that Benoit was posting ads on the site at the same time Killen contacted her. "We did get a notification last week that someone suspected that this was happening and we investigated the ad that was brought to our attention," he said.

Kijiji staff determined Benoit had been using her daughter’s account.

The team at Kijiji will keep an eye out for further attempts by Benoit to post ads to their site, either as herself, or if it appears she is using an account in the name of her family members.

"Be wary of who you're dealing with. Ask a lot of questions. If it seems like you're bothering the person, asking too many questions, that it's probably a good idea not to go through with the deal," Killen advised in the CBC report.

One resource available to help people when looking for a pet is the website B4 U GET A PET.

Read the full story here.