Barking Blondes: Puppy smuggling
As we begin the countdown to the festive season, The Dogs Trust reminded us this week, of their now famous slogan, ‘A Dog is for Life and not just for Christmas.”
Despite the charity’s tireless campaigning for puppies not to be bought as Christmas presents, ‘Fido’ is still high on the list for Santa every year.
However, this year’s campaign is haunted by a devious phenomenon that’s exploiting prospective dog owners in Britain: Illegally imported puppies from Eastern Europe. These puppies are often under-age and sickly and destined for sale on the internet.
The surge in European puppy farmers smuggling dogs into the UK occurred when the PETS (Pet Passport Scheme) was relaxed in 2012. Currently a puppy can be inoculated with a rabies shot from 12 x weeks, and can enter the UK just after a three-week incubation period.
Before 2012, the passport scheme demanded dogs had to wait six months after a rabies shot to enter the UK. This six months waiting time worked, as the ‘quarantine period’ was the known incubation period that rabies required, before an animal becomes ‘symptomatic of this deadly disease.
Additionally, the passport proved the dog’s immunity to rabies with a titre test. This test revealed circulating anti-bodies to the fatal disease, before entry into the UK from mainland Europe was permitted. It was a scheme that took a bit more time and patience, but one that offered a robust alternative to ‘old-fashioned quarantine kennels.
Whilst the relaxation of the scheme has incentivized many more responsible dog owners to enjoy foreign travel with Fido, it has sadly created an opening for ruthless puppy farm traders to exploit the growing demand for dogs in the UK.
A six-month undercover operation by Dogs Trust has revealed the staggering levels of corruption at the heart of the puppy smuggling trade, which puts worrying welfare risks to dogs and people alike in the UK.
Unscrupulous breeders can make over £100,000 a year from the sale of smuggled puppies, its easy money, that represents the very dark side of the human condition. Which is the total exploitation of man’s best friend.
Footage has now been released capturing these puppy farmers’ unscrupulous behaviour. Scenes such as creating counterfeit passports for puppies that are under age to travel into the UK, as well as faking their rabies vaccination records.
Vans loads of popular breeds including Pugs, Chihuahuas and Frenchies are hitting our shores with puppies sick from travelling thousands of miles in appalling conditions.
Posing a threat to the UK dog population, these puppies are vulnerable to disease and without the correct worm treatments or vaccinations, jeopardizing the health of British dogs with serious diseases .
Maybe we as consumers are to blame with our
“I want…and I want it NOW” mentality
With heightened awareness from the Dogs Trust’s undercover operation, we’re hoping that as a nation of animal lovers we can work together to stop this trade. Its bad enough the influx of ‘puppy farmed’ stock bred in the UK, but dogs from eastern Europe pose the greatest risk to the UK – an outbreak of rabies.
Barking Blondes by Jo Good & Anna Webb, published by Hamlyn, £12.99www.octopusbooks.co.uk
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