A puppy farm was recently shut down in Carlow where conditions were said to be “absolutely horrendous” where 52 dogs were seized, the ISPCA says.
According to Bray-based vet Pete Wedderburn there is relatively new puppy farm legislation in this country in the form of the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010.
“If someone has got more than six breeding bitches they have to be registered and regularly inspected. Their bitches can have no more that three litters over a three year period and six litters in an entire lifetime.
“The problem with Carlow is there was a big difference in what the inspectors found when they did their annual inspection of the premises and what the ISPCA found when they visited the premises,” Pete told Newstalk recently.
He said the ISPCA said that they believe that it is time to stop the current system that people have; a notice of two weeks that there is going to an inspection.
“Then they can make it look pretty for the inspection so you get through it. The ISPCA are calling for a spot inspection with no warning,” he said. Pete believes it would make a massive difference.
“It does mean that the Government needs to make a policy change to make this happen but I think they should do that otherwise this will just happen again and again.
“People are just taking advantage of what was meant to be a fair way of doing things but if the people running these places can’t play by the rules and do it properly, if they tweak things to their advantage, then you have to stop giving them that benefit of the doubt,” he said.