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THE IRISH SOCIETY for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) is calling for the consistent enforcement of new legislation regulating dog breeding in Ireland.
The legislation came into force in July, but the ISPCA said it fears “that it will be enforced more stringently in some local authority areas than in others”.
Under the new legislation, local authorities are tasked with enforcing the new act, which applies to premises where there are six or more female dogs capable of breeding.
So far, over 120 establishments have applied for registration but the ISPCA said it is believed that many more are operating illegally. ISPCA inspectors continue to encounter breeders who should have registered with their local authority but have failed to do so.
A statement said:
Last week at total of eight Bassett Hounds were surrendered to the ISPCA by an unregistered back-yard breeder who realised that their sub-standard facilities would not achieve the standards demanded by the new regulations. Without this legislation, these dogs would not have had the opportunity for the new lives that they will now enjoy.
A rescued Bassett Hound Pic: ISPCA
The ISPCA said it believes that the Dog Breeding Establishments Act has the potential to result in substantial improvements to the welfare of dogs kept in large-scale breeding establishments in Ireland, “but only if enforced appropriately”.
The charity said its officials will continue to conduct inspections of unlawful puppy farms, and it is urging anybody who is aware of an illegal puppy farm to contact helpline@ispca.ie.
Two separate searches in Dublin in early October uncovered 92 puppies in total, who were rescued from suspected animal traffickers.
Also in early October, up to 50 puppies were rescued by the DSCPA in another suspected trafficking situation.
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Good. Puppy farms are only part of the problem. All the backyard breeders destroying breeds are also part of the problem. Dogs with all sorts of underlying health are being used for breeding and then they sell their puppies to unsuspecting buyers who get nothing but heartache and massive vets bills.
Just because your hound looks good it does not give reason to breed it and then with a bit of luck we can start on the irresponsible owners.
Ireland has always had a bad reputation on animal welfare so this might be light at the end of the tunnel to tackle illegal puppy farms…hopefully!
Its not hard to find these puppy farms, donedeal and adverts.ie is full of them. I rescued a puppy boxer from one of those monsters but they still sell more from the boot of there cars, even the guy i reported.
I wish it was practically illegal to breed all cats and mixed breed unvaccinated, unregistered dogs, I have nothing against mixed breeds but we have a serious problem of unwanted pets. People should really want a pet, and a breed that suits their family’s lifestyle and have to fork out knowing their pet has been well cared for and is vaccinated and chipped.
It’s all to easy to get a pet on a whim and cast them aside when they become a burden.
Mixed breeds are generally healthier than pure breeds as pure breeds develop problems due to inbreeding. Pugs for example have serious respitory problems due to years of inbreeding. Both get dumped for being too much hassle or have gotten too big. More should be done to encourage neutering and speying of pets and control the amount of times a breeder can breed their dogs for both the health of the bitch and to control numbers.
Breeding pedigrees are not without problems either particularly for certain breeds whereby certain traits have been selected for by breeders causing terrible health problems for dogs as well as inbreeding. This has been such a problem that Bbc stopped televising crufts a few years ago ( thankfully crufts are now emphasising the health of dogs. Unregulated breeders and puppy farms are the biggest culprits for unscrupulous breeding of pedigree dogs.
But if they buy pedigree then they have paperwork, so the breeder would have been within their limits.
If it was law for every dog to be chipped no matter where it came from mixed breed or not, then the person who sold or gave the dog away would ultimately be responsible for the cost of neutering and vaccinating if the dog ended up in a shelter.
That’s just a dream though, cant see it ever being enforced.
You could just make it compulsory for cross breed pups to be microchipped also.
There is a restriction on breeders, the dog has to be two before it has pups, can only have one litter a year and must stop by the age of eight, otherwise special permission is needed from the IKC.
Those pups would all be vaccinated and chipped with at least the breeders details, so if they’re ever dumped there would be somebody responsible for them.
I still think people should choose a breed that suits them, it lessens the chances of the dog growing bigger than the family thought or was way too energetic, lessening the chances of them being dumped.
Unregistered breeders and puppy farms do not adhere to restrictions and many people by pedigrees without checking the credibility of the breeder.
That should be buy not by!
That’s dogs poo type of observation. Why such “”fears”. Crap
Are you an idiot or do you just hate animals?
101-0 Rory. Is that a record?
have your say