SNP MSP for the South of Scotland Emma Harper and Dumfries & Galloway MP Richard Arkless today (Thursday) welcomed the revelation that 7 people engaged in puppy trafficking have been stopped at Cairnryan, resulting in 140 puppies being seized and rehomed.
The information is contained in a report to next week’s meeting of Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Economy, Environment & Infrastructure Committee which asks for the Council to extend the authority it has granted to the SSPCA under the Trade in Animals and Related Products (Scotland) Regulations 2012 (TARPS), which also makes reference to Ms Harper and Mr Arkless’s support for the Stranraer-based local pressure group which has been campaigning against the illegal trade in puppies.
Commenting, Emma said:
“Seizing 140 puppies since January is a good start and I hope the Council will extend the authorisation given to SSPCA officers under the TARPS regulations for another 12 months because it gives them wider authority to intervene where puppies are being transported in ways which don’t comply with the regulations.
“Puppy trafficking is particularly cruel and animal welfare is the very last thing that the people who undertake this trade consider. Puppies can die in transit and as a result of problems they have developed while being reared in less favourable conditions. People might think they are getting a lovely happy puppy only later to discover that it is in poor health.
“Anyone buying a puppy should bear in mind four things; can you see the puppy with its mum; is it of legal age to be sold; does it have all of the necessary papers and is it healthy and energetic? Making sure you buy a puppy from a reputable breeder and this will help reduce the demand for trafficked puppies – and help all of the agencies currently working hard to catch traffickers in the act.”
“I would certainly discourage any purchase from the boot of a car”.
Richard added:
“I am pleased at the number of puppies that have been seized at Carinryan and urge the Council to extend the authorisation given to SSPCA for another 12 months. All that can be done, must be done to ensure that trafficking is made as difficult as possible for dealers.
“For only seven individuals to have been caught but 140 puppies seized, means that each trafficker must have been moving around 20 puppies at a time. These numbers illustrate the distressing reality of the conditions which these young dogs must have been travelling in.’
“Ultimately, if people here were not buying the dogs they would not be brought into the UK in the first place. If we could stop providing these unscrupulous puppy traffickers with a market place, we would go a long way to halting this barbaric trade.”
The Council report can be found here:
