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I’m sure we all breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Animal Welfare Act had the intended effect of closing down many of the worst puppy farms in the UK. Yet who would’ve thought that the problem would re-emerge in the scale and magnitude it has, with the gap being filled by animals being brought into this country illegally from overseas? Reports estimate around 1,000 puppies per week are being trafficked onto our shores.

The situation is horrific: Poorly-bred pups, often sick and weak, transported long distances in awful conditions (mainly from Ireland and Eastern Europe) to be sold onto the unsuspecting British public, …but such is our appetite for pedigree and ‘designer cross-breeds’ that this cruel trade represents a booming and growing business for the criminal fraternity. It’s not difficult to see why when you consider that a puppy bought in Ireland for just €50 can fetch up to £1,000 in Britain. That’s around £930 gross profit on just one puppy!

So lucrative is the trade that many international gangs who used to deal in drugs and and tobacco smuggling have now switched to animal smuggling. Make no mistake, this is serious business.

And these thugs are clever, finding ever smarter ways to stay ahead of whatever current advice is being disseminated: “Make sure you see the pups with the mother” no longer protects you from ending up with a farmed puppy originally from Romania or wherever. The criminals know what you’ve been advised and they’ve a con up their sleeves to fix it….and it’s working.

All of this came as a shock as I listened to David Martin speak on this subject at The Animal Welfare Foundation debate 2015, held yesterday in London. David should know as he acts as a consultant and expert witness on welfare cases for many organisations including the RSPCA and Trading Standards. David is experienced and articulate and he doesn’t hold his punches; neither should he.

Indeed there were shocking disclosures throughout David’s presentation, including:
  • the size and scale of the problem.
  • the fact that networked, international, gun-toting, criminal gangs are involved.
  • the ‘sick joke’ that we describe as ‘border controls’…in arriving during out-of-office-hours, transporters can simply drive in vans loaded with animals at any one of our many ports.
  • the sad reality that this sick trade is driven by OUR insatiable demand for pedigree and designer cross-breeds: We simply don’t want rescue dogs in this country; we want puppies.
Then came the revelation that vets themselves are involved in this abhorrent trade. In Eastern Europe you can buy a pet passport, signed by a vet but otherwise left blank, for just €60. So vets too are part of the criminal framework.

And most shocking of all is the recognition that UK vets must also complicit in this trade; specifically those who are aware of large numbers of puppies coming from particular households, are suspicious of what is going on but dare not to question why nor alert the authorities.

David gave us all much to think about and some proposed solutions - including appropriate penalties for the criminals caught trafficking puppies (serving 3 months of a 6-month sentence is neither here nor there), proper reinforcement at our leaky borders, increasing the age of importation to 6 months and the adoption of new advice for would-be owners, amongst other things.

But first there needs to be the will to tackle this issue head-on and to do so with some grit and determination. My own view is that the general public needs to understand more about this problem and to recognise the part we all play in supporting this ruthless and unpalatable trade. And maybe that’s where we can all help by simply spreading the word, taking the time to read up on the issue and thinking twice before purchasing a pup…...so if you read this and agree that this is the place to start, please tell your friends and share the contents of this blog. Thank you.

For more info:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/heal...rn-Europe.html

https://www.dogstrust.org.uk/press-m...v12_web(1).pdf


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20527281


#AWFdebate #animalwelfare