In 2004, I was working on a story about one of Ireland’s saddest secrets: its large-scale puppy farm industry which supplied poorly-bred, poorly-socialised puppies to unwitting buyers.
Puppy farms were a distressing sight, with up to hundreds of cowering breeding dogs confined in small wire cages. Exhausted females carried litter after successive litter. Timid, often sickly puppies received little human socialisation.
Searching for a vivid phrase to convey the scope and shame of this cruel practice, I decided “puppy farm capital of Europe” was memorable and accurate. The subsequent story headlined that term.
A decade on, that phrase should have been consigned to history. Yet in 2017, it still resonates and is in regular use by media and welfare experts after major confiscations of mistreated breeding dogs, or following seizures of unlawfully transported Irish puppies.
Why does puppy farming – and animal welfare generally – remain such a disturbing and widespread national problem?
Many mistakenly believe the key issue is inadequate animal welfare law. But Ireland has two solid pieces of legislation, produced in the last decade after hard campaigning by veterinary and welfare organisations.
These are the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010 and the more wide-ranging Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013. The latter in particular is a good piece of legislation, as acknowledged by experts such as Dr Andrew Kelly, chief executive of the ISPCA.
The real problem is enforcement and indifference.
At the very top, Government departments endorse the legislation, but underfund its implementation and are unambitious in considering meaningful tweaks that could have major impact.
“There are large parts of the country that we cannot reach, simply because we do not have a sufficient number of inspectors. This means there are animals suffering now that we can’t help,” says Kelly.
For example, tens of thousands of equines in Ireland’s massive horse, pony and donkey overpopulation have been impounded, rehomed or humanely destroyed in recent years.
But thousands remain. Gardaí can seize animals, but are often unfamiliar with legislation. Some officials regularly turn a blind eye to unregistered equines – which should all be chipped and passported – on housing estates and derelict land. A simple step, requiring stallions to be registered, could help authorities to constrain out-of-control breeding.
Violations
Likewise, 2010’s dog-breeding legislation is basically sound, but poorly enforced due to lack of wardens and lax councils. Advanced warnings of inspections mean ongoing violations escape detection, surplus-to-licence dogs are temporarily removed and offenders go unprosecuted.
In certain cases, presented with individuals that significantly exceeded their allowed number of dogs, the local council responded by increasing their licence quotients, rather than taking prosecutions.
Many experts support a legislative change to require a licence for breeding even one dog, not just for those with six or more breeding bitches, as under current legislation. This could immediately reduce Ireland’s vast surplus of casually bred dogs, where thousands are euthanised in pounds annually. This step would better ensure breeders paid the required taxes on puppies they sell, often at hundreds of euro each.
Existing legislation also relies too much on bare-minimum kennelling requirements that allow too many dogs to be kept with too little human interaction, often in mediocre environments.
Accompanied by difficult-to-enforce guidelines, “the legislation fails to adequately address the housing and socialisation needs of breeding dogs and puppies, resulting in ill and unsound dogs flooding the pet dog market and being bought by the unsuspecting public,” says Tara Choules, a university-qualified canine behaviourist at Dublin company AniEd.ie. The guidelines should be regulations, she says.
Meanwhile, cats have virtually no protections under Irish law and the State has no formal pound system for cats.
Farm animals
Though pet animals come under the most welfare scrutiny, the plight of farm animals and exotic pets is largely ignored. For example, the ISPCA notes that 99 per cent of Irish pigs have their tails docked when a few days old, which is illegal under the EU pigs directive.
And exotic pets – despite having specialist needs and some being potentially dangerous – are almost entirely unregulated. Irish collectors are known to keep poisonous snakes, wolves, zebras, tigers and jaguars, with no housing or care requirements.
Finally, Ireland’s judges fail to take animal welfare cases seriously. Though legislation allows for significant fines of up to €5,000 and/or up six months imprisonment on summary conviction, and up to €250,000 and/or five years on indictment, most cases result, at best, in very modest fines, as evidenced in the ISPCA’s current inspectorate report.
While Ireland has made a good legislative start, we are long overdue a consistent, well-funded and well-enforced animal welfare system. I’d be happy never to see or hear the term “puppy farm capital” again.