Bulldog for sale - but only to white people

The bulldog being sold on TradeMe.

TradeMe has removed an auction for a prized bulldog because the owner said he would only consider selling to a white person.

Richard Tunnicliffe, from Huntly, listed the 2-year-old bulldog, which he said would only be sold to an "approved home".

The listing added: "Also not being racist but will only go to a white person as that's what she's used to."

The advert was removed after the Herald on Sunday contacted TradeMe for comment.

"Listings on TradeMe are subject to the Human Rights Act and you cannot discriminate against someone on a number of grounds including sex, race or age when listings goods or services," a spokesman said.

"Discriminatory listings are not cool and we'll take action when they get on our radar; they appear onsite from time-to-time."

Last weekend the Herald on Sunday revealed a TradeMe advert from a Christchurch man advertising for flatmates stated "no Indians or Asians" should apply.

The man said he wasn't being racist, but didn't want to live with people "who cook curry every night" or couldn't speak English. That advert was later removed.

Tunnicliffe was unrepentant about the wording, saying he was very protective of where his dogs went because they were like "family".

"Different cultures have different ways of raising [dogs]," he said.

"I would prefer it to go to a European person to be honest. I know it sounds a bit racist, but that's me."

He said he did not want to waste the time of people who may be interested in the dog but were not white.

On Friday, Tunnicliffe said he had not received any complaints about the advert's wording.

He had previously sold puppies to Indians and Asians, but said the dog - which had an asking price of $2000 - was skittish so he was being careful about rehoming.

Animal behaviour expert Dr James McEwan said a dog would generally only have an issue with a person if they had a history of being beaten by them or someone who looked similar.

"I don't think a dog would look at the colour of a person's skin and have any expectations of what might happen next," he said.