Puppy Farms

[Kilsally]

Scanned in from the News Letter
News, sport and opinion from Northern Ireland brought to you by the world's oldest English language newspaper still in print


Opinion: Puppy Farms - South Down DUP MLA Jim Wells
South Down DUP MLA Jim Wells, who serves as chairman of the Assembly All-Party Group on Animal Welfare, explains why he is backing the News Letter's campaign against puppy farming
Pic:MAN'S BEST FRIEND: Jim Wells and his dog Mollie


I TOTALLY support the News Letter's campaign against puppy farming - not only because I believe puppy farming is cruel but also because it is totally unnecessary.

Anyone looking for a family pet does not need to buy a dog from a puppy farm - all he or she has to do is go down to their local council dog pound or USPCA shelter.

I speak from first-hand experience as I am the owner of two rescued dogs.

I found Annie 12 years ago tied to a post near Templepatrick. Whilst she was well-fed her owner simply did not want her and I had no hesitation in bringing Annie home.

Nine years later my daughter found Mollie - another mongrel - at the local council pound and both dogs have been very much part of our family ever since.

If all of the dog lovers in Northern Ireland gave good homes to the thousands of strays and refused to support puppy farming this horrible trade would die out almost immediately.

Unless someone has had direct experience of looking after a rescued dog they have no idea how rewarding it can be.

Annie had clearly had a bad experience with cars before she came to us.

She gets very nervous when put in any vehicle - but until recently she could run the legs off anyone who produced a lead and she can still walk for Ulster.

As a child I had a dog - Simon - from when I was four until I was 21. He was a wonderful pet who went everywhere with me. For the first 13 years of his life he ran behind my bike as I cycled down the hill in Moira to the canal.

For his last four years he sat on the handlebars watching everyone as we freewheeled down the same hill - another mongrel who brought great pleasure.

Not only am I angry when I learn of people who ignore strays and buy from puppy farms, I am also even more concerned that progress has been so slow in reforming the animal welfare legislation which currently permits the mass production of dogs in awful conditions.

At present the law in Northern Ireland (Welfare of Animals Act 1972) is 36 years old and totally inadequate to deal with the organised gangs who are making a fortune through puppy farming.

It is very frustrating for animal welfare organisations such as the USPCA to discover animals which are clearly being ill-treated but nothing can be done because the law is so outdated and inadequate.

The Minister of Agriculture [Michelle Gildernew] has promised reform but every time she is asked for an update she keeps repeating that she wants an all-Ireland animal welfare strategy.

This stance means that nothing can be done to tackle the evils of puppy farming in Northern Ireland until the Republic updates its own legislation.

Unfortunately progress on this issue has been very slow south of the border and meanwhile this very cruel trade continues unabated.

There is clearly a cross-border element to this evil trade and I have no problem with close cooperation between the two jurisdictions to tackle this activity but if the minister wants an all-Ireland strategy then could I suggest that she promotes legislation which will make Northern Ireland a world leader in the field of animal welfare and then encourages the Republic to follow her lead.

Only when the legislation is for the 21st century can we really tackle puppy farming and all the other cruel practices which the vast majority of people in the Province find so appalling.
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[Kilsally]

OPINION: 'Boycott dealers in misery and death'
By USPCA CHIEF EXECUTIVE, STEPHEN PHILPOTT
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/OPINIO … 4792238.jp



WITH Christmas fast approaching one batch of retailers can disregard the doom and gloom on the high street and turn a deaf ear to the talk of recession: they are our well established puppy traffickers – the mercenary dog dealers who supply a ready market for pups, without regard for the welfare of the animals.
Northern Ireland has become a lucrative doorstep into the UK for the traffickers from the puppy farming capital of Europe – the Republic of Ireland. Thousands of weak and diseased pups are trafficked into the Province each year to local dealers and sold to unsuspecting families.

The practice is widespread in Ulster too, with many such farms going undetected and producing sick and unhealthy dogs for the pet market.

The USPCA has helped uncover puppy farms where more than 350 breeding *************************es and their litters were kept in the most appalling conditions – mothers blind and suffering from severe mange (a parasitic infestation of the skin which can cause hair loss, itching and inflammation); dead pups lying on the shed floor; and the survivors attempting to suckle from diseased mothers, physically unable to sustain them.

Keeping an animal in conditions likely to cause suffering is not against the current law in Northern Ireland. Crazy, but true.

We have to wait until the animal shows evidence of suffering, or dies, before we can take action.

This kind of needless suffering has to stop.

The current legislation in Northern Ireland is pathetic and does not properly address the puppy farming issue.

The law as it stands under the Welfare of Animals Act 1972 short-changes the very animals it is meant to protect and until that legislation is updated and brought into the 21st century – as it has been in England and Wales – then animals in Northern Ireland will continue to suffer needlessly.

But the sad thing is the majority of pups sold in the Province this month will have begun life in the filth of a puppy farm.

In the course of a year, the USPCA speaks to hundreds of heartbroken and angry people whose trafficked pups died within days of purchase. The lack of effective legislation north and south of the border leaves us trying to contain, rather than control, a shocking abuse of animal welfare.

It is you, the prospective purchaser, who has the real power to put a stop to this appalling exploitation of animals. Puppy traffickers are in business to make money; their only welfare concern is for the well-being of their wallet.

So today we are calling for the public to boycott such farms and asking our politicians to finally – almost two years after the rest of the UK – make the changes necessary to protect animal welfare in this country.

[Kilsally]

PUPPY CAMPAIGN: KC scheme identifies genuine dog breeders
PUPPY CAMPAIGN: KC scheme identifies genuine dog breeders - Belfast Today

THE Kennel Club's accredited breeder scheme attempts to regulate breeders by ensuring they follow a set of guidelines for all aspects of the animal's welfare.

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PUPPY CAMPAIGN: 'We must change the instant wish for pets'
PUPPY CAMPAIGN: 'We must change the instant wish for pets' - Belfast Today
Published Date: 20 December 2008

GENUINE breeders can be "their own worst enemies" because their desire to find their puppies a good home drives prospective buyers to puppy farms, the Kennel Club said yesterday.
The secretary of the pedigree breeders' club told the News Letter many legitimate breeders will refuse to sell puppies over the Christmas period because they want to ensure their dogs are treated as a part of the family and not as just another present.


Law on puppy farms is crazy - USPCA
Law on puppy farms is crazy - USPCA - Belfast Today

.............Despite an update to the law in England and Wales in April 2007, the Northern Ireland Executive has failed to introduce a similar change here and we operate under an "antiquated" law which came into force in 1972.

Adopting the 2007 Animal Welfare Act into Northern Ireland would not only make it against the law to be cruel to an animal but it would also ensure the owners and keepers are responsible for meeting the welfare needs of their animals.

Anyone found to contravene this would face a fine up to £20,000 and/or a prison sentence.

It would also increase the minimum age at which a person can buy an animal to 16.

Puppy farms are dealt with by the dog warden service of the local council.

Anyone with three or more breeding *************************es must have a licence and register with the dog warden, who is entitled to inspect the premises.

But the Dogs (NI) Order 1983 which covers this is a control order and takes no account of welfare.

The Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999 states *************************es can not be mated until they are at least one year old and can give birth to no more than six litters in a lifetime and no more than one litter per year.

Accurate breeding records must be maintained by breeding establishments but this relies on the owner's honesty and coming forward with information.

It is illegal under the Welfare of Animals Act (NI) 1972 to sell an animal as a pet in a street or public place – or from a vehicle, stall or barrow.

[Kilsally]

..........However as the law in Northern Ireland is outdated, there is very little the authorities can do to prevent the practice.

Animal welfare organisations are forced to wait until there is physical evidence of suffering, or the dog dies, before they can move in.

Our campaign is calling for the Stormont Executive - in particular Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew, whose department has control over the relevant law - to make the necessary changes and bring the Province into line with the rest of the UK, which introduced the Animal Welfare Act in spring 2007.

And you can help with this -if you support the campaign, and want to help put an end to this type of intensive breeding and awful living conditions, then write to Minister Gildernew or contact her Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) voicing your concerns.

You can also contact your local councillor or MLA to lend their support in vocalising opposition to puppy farms and add further pressure in the Assembly, particularly any MLAs on the Agriculture Committee which holds Ms Gildernew to account.

[Kilsally]

Why we should cherish our pets
Why we should cherish our pets - Belfast Today
Published Date: 12 December 2008
By Ian Paisley

[Kilsally]

......The Minister of Agriculture [Michelle Gildernew] has promised reform but every time she is asked for an update she keeps repeating that she wants an all-Ireland animal welfare strategy.

This stance means that nothing can be done to tackle the evils of puppy farming in Northern Ireland until the Republic updates its own legislation.

[Belfast-citizen]

Ban puppy farms !!!

[Ebeneezer]

Where would you be without the copy and paste function?

[Thranduil]

I fully agree with you Kilsally. Puppy farms are not for animal lovers, they are for people who want to follow a fashion - such as Paris Hilton engages in, a fashionable breed of dog for the ego of the owner.

When my dog dies (hopefully a good few years away), if i am looking for a new companion i will seek one out among the unwanted dogs at the pound, it will give me more pleasure knowing i am helping an unwanted animal to enjoy a good life.

The only valid reason/excuse for breeding dogs commercially is for a necessary service, eg a blind dog or a police dog.

[Maxi101]

There will be no dead puppies under a united Ireland. End partition and save the puppies.