Puppy trafficking and puppy mills

Op-Ed: Puppies are big business, and like everything else that makes lots of money, the unscrupulous and the uncaring want a slice of this very lucrative pie.  Puppy farming is not just a problem here in the UK, thousands of puppies are purpose bred abroad and brought here illegally under the pet travel scheme. The people who trade in these tiny lives don’t care if the animals live or die, after all there are plenty of them in the pipeline, and they won’t lose out on their fat profits if a dozen or so die in transit. 

Puppy traffickers do a roaring trade at Christmas time, but the sad fact is that many of the dogs will not even make it to the New Year. The pups are bred in horrendous conditions both here in the UK and other EU countries. Their mothers are used as breeding machines, constantly pregnant and exhausted with low immune systems due to poor feeding, little exercise and having to live in filthy cramped cages. The bitches are killed or auctioned off when they can no longer produce offspring.

As a nation of dog lovers, we know that people want to give homes to these puppies, but few will know that there cute little pet may have travelled thousands of miles to reach the UK. They are not aware that being born abroad with no animal welfare checks or passport control, their tiny new animal may be harbouring serious diseases which could easily spread to our other pets, UK wildlife and even us. The dogs that come to the UK, usually from the eastern European countries, arrive with no vaccination certificates and no paper trail of any kind that can be used to check the animal’s history. Many are ill before they are bought here, and most will never have had any kind of veterinary care or socialisation.  

The Dogs Trust, and other animal welfare organisations, has warned Defra about the dangers to UK animals as a consequence of the changes made to the Pet Travel Scheme in 2012, but of course like many other issues today, the Government has simply turned a deaf ear and a blind eye.  It’s hard to believe that the UK Government knows about this trade in misery and yet does nothing whatsoever to stop it.

Puppies can be born almost anywhere.  Small cages, in ramshackle outhouses and sheds, and often the pups’ mother is simply chained to a tree; her babies born in the same dirt patch where she will spend her entire life, all outside in all weathers. An industry of misery and suffering indeed.

Sometimes the puppies are born in barrels or crates. There is no soft bedding, no kind words and no stimulation.  They never get to see the outside world until they are packed up and sent on their long journey to the UK.  The pups are often weaned too early and suffer illnesses associated with feeding problems. 

They suffer other health conditions too, such as crusty, oozing eyes, raging ear infections and mange that turns the puppies’ skin into a mass of painful itching scabs.

---

They often arrive with abscess on their feet if they are kept in cages with wire floors. Their  suffering is ignored or inadequately treated. Undercover Investigators have observed dogs circling frantically in their small cages and pacing ceaselessly back and forth, oblivious to anything around them. It’s their only way of coping with despair.

Puppy mills are well-known in the pet industry and some unscrupulous pet shops are happy to accept the puppies without questions asked. There are also many adverts online offering puppies for sale and it is almost certain that these poor animals will have come from puppy mills.

Marc Abraham, a TV vet is fighting hard against puppy farming, as is the Kennel Club and many other animal charities. Marc said there was an "over production of dogs" in the UK, with battery farming of puppies while rescue dogs were put to sleep every day.

Marc is right, with millions of unwanted dogs and cats (including purebreds) dying every year in animal shelters, there is simply no reason for animals to be bred and sold for the pet-shop trade.

Without these stores, the financial incentive for puppy mills would disappear, and the suffering of these dogs would end.

---