Government announces new plans to tackle puppy smuggling
There was a 260% rise in puppies being intercepted for breaching animal welfare standards, last year
Last updated 23rd Aug 2021
The Government has set out new plans to crackdown on puppy smuggling.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs intend to raise the minimum age for importing a puppy, from 15 weeks to six months, and ban the transfer of heavily pregnant dogs.
This comes after a 260% rise in puppies being intercepted for not meeting the UK’s pet import standard, last year. After more than 66,000 dogs were commercially imported in 2020, according to Animal and Plant Health Agency figures.
The Government are currently consulting the public and relevant industries for eight-weeks on their plans.
Paula Boyden, Dog Trusts Veterinary Director for the East, told us she "Welcomes the Government's proposals".
She told us that puppy smuggling is something that she and her team have been working on "for six years" through their 'Puppy Pilot scheme' which started in late 2015.
She says, the current check "just aren't fit for purpose" because they don't require people to visibly show the animal at the border. She also said that the current deterrents and punishments for puppy smuggling are too weak, considering offenders are only imprisoned for a year, while those importing cigarettes would get seven years.
A combination of factors that means Dogs Trust and others "don't know" how big the illegal trade is in the East. They predict the 2,000 illegally imported puppies they have cared for, is just the tip of the iceberg.