Charity demands ‘urgent action’ as 1,500th smuggled puppy is saved

Dogs Trust is calling on government to raise the minimum age for puppies to enter the UK to six months and increase penalties

Adverts for dog breeds commonly associated with the illegal puppy smuggling trade have shot up in London during the pandemic, according to Dogs Trust.

It has seen a 28 per cent increase in adverts for the five breeds most likely to be illegally imported into the country from eastern Europe.

There were 152 adverts for English Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Pugs, Chows and Dachshunds last month, compared to just 119 for the same breeds 12 months ago.

Dogs Trust works alongside government agencies to intercept smugglers at the border, before caring and rehoming them.

Last year alone saw a 66 per cent increase in dogs coming through its Puppy Pilot scheme, which has been in operation since 2015,

But vet director Paula Boyden is worried they are only seeing the tip of the iceberg and said the issue requires “urgent action”.

Befa is Dogs Trust’s 1,500th puppy to be rescued through its Puppy Pilot scheme
Beth Walsh photography

She said: “The scheme was originally set up on a trial basis in 2015 because there were not sufficient resources to care for the puppies being seized at the border.

“Five years on, the need for our services is greater than ever as the demand for dogs during lockdown has further exacerbated the problem and, unfortunately, we know that the dogs we care for are just a small proportion of those that make it into the country illegally.”

The revelations come as the UK’s largest dog welfare charity announced it had rescued its 1,500th puppy from the hands of cruel puppy smugglers.

In January 2021, Dogs Trust rescued a consignment of five puppies discovered hidden in a small cat carrier in the back of a van at the Port of Dover, having been illegally transported into the UK from Slovakia.

Amid the boom in people buying dogs online during lockdown, these dogs were due to be delivered to homes up and down the country.

Concerningly, more than half of Londoners (54 per cent) told the charity they would be willing to buy a puppy online even if they thought it had been illegally imported by puppy smugglers.

Sadly, three of the five dogs - all no older than five weeks when rescued, which is well under the minimum 15 weeks that puppies must be to legally imported - died within days.

Tara will also be rehomed eventually by the charity
Beth Walsh photography

Befa, a Springer Spaniel, is now being cared for by Dogs Trust, as well as Tara, a black Labrador, and will be rehabilitated before she can be rehomed.

The charity estimates that since the rescue scheme began in late 2015, the street value of the puppies intercepted is more than £3 million.

The only way puppy smuggling - which is considered by some criminal gangs to be more lucrative now than drugs smuggling - will be stopped is with the sort of action the government promised in its 2019 manifesto, the charity says.

Ms Boyden added: “Now that the UK has left the EU, there has never been a better time for the government to raise the minimum age for puppies to be imported into the UK to six months to help make them less desirable.

“We also want to see tougher penalties for smugglers, as only a handful of cases have ever led to a prosecution, with paltry penalties that are no deterrent.”

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