Delayed puppy smuggling law back before MPs

By Helen Catt & Adam Smith

BBC Politics

A fresh attempt is being made to crack down on puppies and kittens being smuggled into the UK, nearly three years after the government promised to tighten the rules.

The new law would allow a ban on importing dogs and cats which are younger than six-months-old.

It would also prohibit the importation of heavily pregnant animals and limit how many pets a person can travel with.

The bill will be debated in Parliament on Friday.

The RSPCA said the measures would stop people “making a quick buck out of the suffering and exploitation of animals”, but some organisations which rescue dogs from abroad are concerned that raising the import age could put vulnerable puppies at risk.

The bill would also close a loophole which allows animals to be imported which have suffered mutilations that are illegal in the UK, such as ear-cropping.

The government originally promised to make these changes to the law in 2021 but it has not yet done so.

The changes are being put forward through a private members bill, the Animal Welfare Bill, brought by the Conservative MP Selaine Saxby.

The Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs said it took the issue of puppy smuggling “very seriously” and it was “aware” of the bill.

Major animal welfare charities, such as the Dog’s Trust, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and the RSPCA, are backing the proposals after years of campaigning.

Under the current rules, puppies can be imported from 15-weeks-old.

Amy Ockelford from the RSPCA said raising the age would help prevent puppies from being taken away from their mothers too early and being put at risk of disease and behavioural problems.

“It’s also making them less marketable to the people who are exploiting their cute puppy charms because they’ll be a little bit older by the time they come into the country, a little bit healthier and those welfare issues won’t be so significant.

“Ultimately we want to protect the public who are buying puppies which are becoming sick and becoming behaviourally challenging, but the main thing here is that we want to prioritise the welfare of the animals.”

Some dog rescue organisations have concerns. Rachael O’Regan runs a not-for-profit company, The Responsible Dog Rescue, in Southport, which rescues dogs from Romania.

She’s just brought over three five-month-old puppies, called Zonic, Lio and Togo, along with their mother Magda, which she says were being kept in a small, dirty kennel in the north of the country.

She says the harsh winter weather combined with the conditions in public dog shelters and the prevalence of potentially diseases such as parvovirus make young puppies very vulnerable.

Image source, RSPCA

Image caption, Ear-cropping involves removing all or part of a dog’s ear-flap and is often done to make them appear more intimidating

“The chances of them contracting an illness and suffering as a result of that, potentially dying, are massively increased. The behaviour issues and being able to correct those and being able to train them becomes more difficult if you are bring them over from six months onwards. It’s immediately making the job more difficult for the rescuers and for the adopters.”

As it stands, there are no plans for a general exemption from the age limit for rescue dogs, as it would be considered too broad, although the final details of a ban are yet to be worked out.

There aren’t any definitive figures for the number of puppies smuggled into the country but between 2015 and 2023, the Dog’s Trust reported that it had rescued more than 3,000 dogs linked to illegal importing.

According to government figures, 116 puppies and kittens were quarantined at the Port of Dover in 2023 for being below the current legally required minimum age for import.

The new bill will limit the number of animals which people can travel with to stop traders using the Pet Travel Scheme to smuggle in dogs by pretending they are their own pets.

It will also tackle a separate animal welfare issue by closing a loophole which allows dogs and cats which have been mutilated to be brought into Britain.

Painful cosmetic procedures, such as ear-cropping and declawing, are already illegal in the UK.

Ear-cropping involves removing all or part of a dog’s ear-flap, while declawing is partially amputating a cat’s toe.

The bill will ban dogs and cats which have had such procedures abroad from being brought into the country.

Push to get bill through

The Conservatives promised to crack down on puppy smuggling in their 2019 manifesto.

The government is expected to back this bill after dropping its own planned legislation in 2023, although there is no guarantee it will pass all stages in Parliament and become law before a general election.

Ms Saxby, MP for North Devon, said she would do everything she could to get her bill through.

“Unfortunately, it’s not my decision when the election is but I will certainly be driving it like a train to see that we can get it through as quickly as we can.

“We do have breeders here in the UK and we very much hope that we will be able to clamp down on this illegal practice so we can support breeders at home.”

She said she was expecting there to be “sensible exceptions and exemptions” within the bill for travelling with pets and on some mutilations such as tail docking.

If the bill is passed, there will also need to be another piece of legislation to set out the detail of the ban.

Labour is likely to back the bill but has accused the Conservatives of having “bottled their manifesto promises”.

Shadow environment secretary Steve Reed said a Labour government would “do the right thing and…end the appalling practice of puppy smuggling”.

A spokesperson for the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs said the government operates “one of the most rigorous and robust pet travel checking regimes in Europe to help stop this abhorrent trade”.

It will set out its position on the bill when it’s debated on Friday.