april 2024
April Blog – Online Awareness Week
As an animal loving nation, we experienced a breeding frenzy during the pandemic, so it is no surprise that there are around 13 million pet dogs in the UK – the second highest dog population in Europe. We are now in our third year of our Online Pet Sales Awareness Week launched by Justice for Reggie to highlight the importance of regulating online animal selling. It is widely known that puppy farmers and illegal sellers operate their trade through the selling platforms and social media. The lack of current legislation is putting animal welfare at risk every single day. The awareness week has 7 days of advice and information, including how to spot fake adverts and scammers that all link to the illicit puppy trade.
The Puppy Trade
The online puppy trade is still booming and an eye watering 2.4 million dogs are traded each year across Europe and the UK. Half of them are either imported or from illegal breeders. It is impossible to know how many illegally bred puppies are sold in the UK, but to put it in perspective, less than 12% of puppies born every year are bred by licensed breeders, whereas a whopping 88% are born to unlicensed breeders.
The Suffering
Illegal breeders and puppy farmers go to great lengths to cover up their trade through many of the well-known selling platforms. The dogs and puppies are reared in appalling conditions and usually suffer from health defects, infectious diseases and behavioural issues and some tragically die. In addition, what you do not see are the mothers locked away in cramped spaces and forced to breed over and over living in their own filth. All you see is a photo advertisement that is impossible to verify. Most are deprived of basic needs such as clean water. These breeders operate purely for maximum profit and minimal effort to care for the animals.
On the other hand, licensed breeders have regular welfare inspections and they have a limit of litters that they can produce each year. There are also strict regulations on the ages of the mothers who can breed – for example, female dogs should not be bred from under 12 months of age, or after 7 years. After this age, they are at risk of being injured or dying during pregnancy.
Advertising Puppies
The Justice for Reggie team are still finding evidence of poor breeding on a massive scale. So nothing has changed and still we see numerous adverts of puppies not shown with their mothers and pretending to be home bred. Some examples of our findings include the following –
Fake adverts claiming to show photos of the puppies but selling a completely different litter
Imported dogs and puppies from Europe and beyond– some are underage and too young to travel (many don’t survive the long journeys)
Using fake paperwork, documents and photographs
Puppies with no mums to be seen (lots of excuses) or using ‘stooge’ fake mums to hide the real mums as maybe stolen, or riddled with diseases that they don’t want you to see
Sellers saying they are licensed when they are not, or stealing other breeder’s licensing details
Sellers stating they are the breeders when they are dealers wanting shift their ‘stock’
Using fake addresses and burner phones
Sellers stating puppies have been vaccinated, wormed etc when they haven’t,
Sellers asking buyers to switch communications to WhatsApp
Sellers offering to meet in other locations to sell the puppies
Sellers lying about the puppies’ age and are really younger than what they say they are
Education
Despite educational tools widely accessible, it is shocking to learn that ‘One in four new owners bought their puppy without seeing its breeding environment, or their mother, and in many cases having their puppy delivered to their home or to another location’. The increase in selling platforms such as Websites, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook and even WhatsApp – all of which are unregulated are surely to blame.
What Actions Are Being Taken? (Or not)
The Government introduced several animal welfare laws including Lucy’s law, which means that anyone wanting to buy a puppy or kitten MUST buy direct from the breeder, and the mother and puppies MUST be seen interacting together in the place they were born. However due to the loopholes in the law, coupled with lack of Government resources, the puppy trade continues to thrive. The Government needs to regulate online selling platforms and provide a safe place for the animals and the buyers. We are still campaigning for Reggie’s law to be included in the Animal Welfare (kept animals) Bill but unfortunately, animal welfare is currently way down the list. Many selling sites can play a huge part in demanding PROPER identification from a seller (currently they only need a burner phone and email address). Now wouldn’t that be a huge positive step in the right direction?
Stop and Think Before Buying a Pet
So if you are considering buying that cute little puppy online, spare a thought for where they have come from as you could be fuelling the illegal puppy trade. Think about what conditions the parents are kept in, how many litters they have had, are they having health checks? Are they being cared for? Are they socialised? The RSCPA and Dogs Trust have excellent advice and information for those of you thinking of buying a puppy. Alternatively, consider adopting from one of the many wonderful rescue centres across the country. Moreover, remember when searching through online adverts that if something does not look or feel right, report it to the local authorities.
We are forever grateful for your support.
http://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/endcruelty/investigatingcruelty/organised/puppyfarming
http://www.gov.uk/government/news/lucy’s-law-spells-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-puppy-farming