Illegal Puppy Imports - Time for the government to sit up & take it seriously!

Time for Government to ‘sit up and take seriously’ the puppy smuggling problem

Created: 25/03/2015

THE INCREASING problem of puppies being smuggled into the UK was the subject of a recent House of Commons briefing.


It was hosted by Dogs Trust and MP Neil Parish, chairman of the All-Party Group on Animal Welfare (APGAW), and brought together a wide range of stakeholders, including Trading Standards, the Metropolitan Police, quarantine kennel owners, animal transporters and concerned MPs.

Deputy chief veterinary officer Alick Simmons represented DEFRA.

Those present discussed the findings of Dogs Trust’s The Puppy Smuggling Scandal report, the result of a six-month undercover investigation by the charity which revealed high level of corruption at the heart of the trade, and the worrying welfare risks imposed on both dogs and humans.

Shocking investigative footage revealed criminal breeders, vets and transporters in Hungary and Lithuania abusing the pet travel scheme and a lack of adequate enforcement and protocol by the relevant authorities. European vets were caught on camera creating false passports and fake rabies vaccination records.

The report also revealed that underage puppies are slipping through the net undeclared, and the lack of checks at ferry ports and borders, simplifying the smuggling process. With breeders making upwards of £100,000 a year from the sale of smuggled puppies, the trade is ‘spiralling out of control with no deterrent’, Dogs Trust says.

The number of declared puppies alone entering Great Britain between 2011 and 2013 from Lithuania increased by 780 per cent, and by 663 per cent from Hungary.

"This rise does not scratch the surface if you consider the number of puppies who are illegally smuggled and not accounted for in these figures,” a spokesman said. "We urge anyone considering a puppy to stop and think, ‘Where on earth is my dog coming from?’.

At the time Dogs Trust called ‘urgently’ on the Government to:

Make ‘far more robust’ the current checks conducted before allowing a pet to travel;

Actively encourage cross-agency working and to develop an intelligence system to record and share data to better enforce compliance of the pet travel scheme;

Bring the wait period post vaccination and quarantine for illegal (non-compliant) landings in line with the incubation period of rabies. A three-month wait/quarantine would mean that the minimum age of entry would be six months, which would help eliminate the trade because puppy buyers want younger dogs;

Introduce stricter fines and deterrents for those caught bringing dogs illegally into the UK.

Lack of data


During the recent briefing, the DEFRA team decried the lack of data on illegal imports.

"They are right that there is indeed a distinct lack of such data, and it is therefore clear that a system of intelligence-led enforcement is urgently needed to effectively tackle the problem of illegal imports once and for all,” a Dogs Trust spokesman said. "From the feedback gathered following the briefing, this is undoubtedly the overriding recommendation for Government, and one which should be implemented without delay.”

It was put to Mr Simmons that the Government should actively encourage cross-agency working and develop an intelligence system specifically to record and share data. This would enable regional Trading Standards Authorities and the Association of Port Health Authorities (APHA) to work together and respond to suspected illegal imports in a cohesive manner.

"We are aware that DEFRA has been in discussion with the UK Border Force about this issue – again, if the Border Force has intelligence, work needs to be carried out to find a way to share this data with other agencies,” the spokesman said.

Another key discussion point was the suggestion of Government ring-fencing funding to provide adequate resources for APHA and local authorities so they can fulfil their statutory functions at the ports. It was proposed that penalties for those caught smuggling animals could be used to generate revenue for the authorities in question.

The better enforcement of existing legislation through intelligence collection and increased resources would signal a significant move towards tackling this pertinent problem, the spokesman said.

Mr Simmons and his team stressed that checks are undertaken on 100 per cent of imports at the ports. But, says Dogs Trust, this figure refers to declared imports and does not take into account the numerous undeclared puppies who are crossing borders on a weekly basis.

Explaining DEFRA’s stance, Mr Simmons said his department understood the need to stop illegal trade and that there were three aspects to dealing with the problem: demand, border and source. Regarding the first of these, he said, at present there is a demand for cheap, pedigree dogs; tackling this involved the promotion of responsible ownership and encouraging owners to spend more time and effort on buying a puppy. Regarding the border issue, he said that effective border controls did need to be maintained but that the border between the UK and the rest of the EU was never intended to be a major stopping point.

Finally, tackling the problem at source – in the countries where the puppies are being bred and with the dealers who are bringing them into the UK – was a priority.

As reported in this week’s Veterinary Record, Deborah Wells, head of the rabies policy team at DEFRA, said that in 2013 45 per cent of the puppies picked up by Trading Standards had come from Lithuania and Hungary. But this was just a snapshot of the issue, she said.

Those present discussed what could be done at ports and borders. Austin Milligan of the Metropolitan Police Status Dogs Unit said that the police presence at borders had been removed due to funding cuts, but the police had information about the people who were bringing dogs in illegally.

Dan Coughlan of the pet transport company Animal Express suggested the UK’s borders should be closed to animals for a two-year period. The situation was out of control, he said, and the pet travel scheme needed to be strengthened.

Sean Wensley, junior vice-president of the British Veterinary Association, said he believed one in eight vets had contacted Trading Standards with concerns that puppies had been smuggled illegally into the country. The meeting concluded with those present saying a collaborative effort was needed to overcome the issue of puppy smuggling, or possibly a single agency to deal with the issue in its entirety.

"Dogs Trust is playing its part in confronting the issue and continues to put pressure on DEFRA,” a spokesman told DOG WORLD. "The high level of attendance at the recent breakfast briefing indicates the willingness of relevant stakeholders to work together in putting a stop to the illegal importation of puppies.

"It was surmised that it is now the turn of Government to sit up and take this problem seriously and to properly consider the implementation of the recommendations highlighted both in The Puppy Smuggling Scandal report and at the briefing.”