Good News for the Swindon area

[Anonymous]

Crossposted

Morning all!

I’m pleased to say that last night the Licensing committee agreed we could cease
to allow the sale of dogs through pet shops in the borough. This would include
people dealing in dogs as they would need a pet shop licence.

Within the Pet Animals Act there are provisions for LAs to set conditions for
“securing all or any of the objects specified”. We argued that there is a
strong, proven link between puppy farms and pet shops meaning that the dogs are
likely to be sold underage, with medical problems, travel great distances and
have inaccurate paperwork. The environment of the pet shop is also likely to
expose the young pups to disease including such things as parvo as they would
not have completed a vaccination course. This would therefore be in conflict of
the conditions: “that animals, being mammals, will not be sold at too early an
age” and second “that all reasonable precautions will be taken to prevent the
spread among animals of infectious diseases”.

I talked to other LAs, to rescue centres (both large and small), a very helpful
reporter from the recent documentary shown on S4C, campaigners and a lovely
woman who was able to give her very personal story about her experience. If
anyone is interested further and would like my notes from this I’m more than
happy to pass them on (just give me a minute to tidy them up so they make sense
to others!!)

The committee was unanimous in the decision (which doesn’t happen a lot!). The
only thing they required was that a person could make an appeal to committee and
give an individual case as to why they should be allowed to sell dogs on a pet
shop licence (this was expected). Committee did agree however they would accept
guidelines from me as to good and bad practices to look for when considering a
case. I am in the process of writing these but they include such things as: the
dogs must be bought direct from a breeder, they cannot come via another dealer.
They must be sourced locally so as to not travelled any great distance and that
the breeder is easily reachable for the new owners to talk to. The breeder’s
information must be freely available at the time of purchase. Proof of
appropriate (for the breed) tests for inherited diseases (for the parents and/or
the pups) must be provided. The parents of the pups must be DNA profiled so that
the new owners can prove, if they wish, that the puppy is indeed from those
parents. And many more!

I admit I am trying to make it difficult for anyone to be able to argue they are
suitable but am equally bound to ensure it is possible, in theory for someone to
be granted a licence. I have to ensure that the conditions are related to the
reasons why we don’t dogs sold in pet shops – i.e. the high chance they have
been sourced from a puppy farm. I’d be interested in anyone’s thoughts on this
(whether you agree with me or not! a good debate is always welcome!)

Please also feel free to cascade this on to anyone else. As stated, I’m more
than happy to discuss further at any time. One of the things I found most
interesting with this was that the puppy farms rarely sell directly to the
public any more, the sales are made pretty much exclusively through dealers and
pet shops so in restricting them it could make a real dent in the puppy farmer’s
profits. Some how I cannot see this as a bad thing… 😉

Happy Thursday!
ali

Alison Waine
Environmental Protection Officer – Animals

Swindon Borough Council
tel: 01793 466068
fax: 01793 466165

[Kerry_and_Beau]

thats great  :yes:

have to say i have never seen any puppies for sale in shops locally just newspapers so i didn’t realise it happened in the uk, kinda knew it did in the usa but not here.  naievety from where i live i guess  :-\

[Mudgie]

puppies for sale in pet shops in tyne and wear – I dont buy anything from them – soon as i see there are puppies or kittens i just walk out  ::) 

[Anonymous]

i have never seen dogs or puppies for sale in a shop either but i do know of a notorious one up blackpool way that people were trying to get closed down a while ago 🙁

WELL DONE SWINDON !!!

[Anonymous]

They sell puppies and kittens in Harrods

[Anonymous]

hi,

erm …. i’ve only been once Val – must have shut my eyes in that bit as i never noticed them 🙁  cant imagine a large retail unit is best place for baby anything really 🙁

claire x

[SuzAndTheDiva]

Good!

Can remember playing with kittens in a pet shop when i was little, long time ago, never seen puppies that i can remember.

[Author]

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