Dogs Trust, the United Kingdom's largest dog welfare charity, is appealing to the UK government to strengthen its enforcement over the surge of illegal puppy smuggling. The calls came after the authorities seized over 100 puppies at Kent's channel ports in the past three months.
According to BBC News, the Dogs Trust, which has been financing the care and quarantine of trafficked puppies that were seized, has reported that puppy smuggling is on the rise since December. The charity said that the number of confiscated puppies has already reached 150 and 94 of them were already rehomed. They also noted that there is a rise on the demands for designer breeds particularly French Bulldogs, Pugs and Dachshunds.
Adam Levy, rehoming center manager at Dogs Trust's Canterbury branch, said that the age limit requirement for any puppy brought into the UK should be increased to six months. He explained that through this, transporting young puppies could be avoided and identifying breeds would be easier.
Levy also added that the government should increase its resources and perform more checks at the border. He also reminded buyers to double check the legalities before purchasing any puppy.
Responding to Dogs Trust's calls, George Eustice, Member of Parliament and head of the Animal and Plant Health Agency, said that the government's intelligence-led approach is actually working. He said checks have been always carried out at the border and officials were always available.
"I suspect actually there's a relatively small number of traders that are bringing these puppies in but you only need a small number to bring quite a lot of puppies across the border," Eustice stated. "If we can have an intelligence-led approach, identify those people, bring them to justice, we'll be able to tackle this problem."
Last month, the Daily Mirror reported that 200 vulnerable puppies are being smuggled into the UK every day from illegal farms in Hungary, Romania, Poland and Lithuania. It was estimated that the number of trafficked puppies in 2015 has reached almost 70,000, an alarming increase from 1,800 in 2010. These were illegally transported by Irish and Eastern European gangs of a £100-million underground industry.
