The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been called on to examine illegal puppy smuggling out of Ireland.
Sinn Féin senator, Lynn Boylan, has written to the committee’s chair requesting an examination of the laws preventing illegal export of puppies.
“Unscrupulous puppy farmers continue to smuggle out the puppies through our ports illegally,” said Senator Boyle, who is a member of the committee.
“Not only are the puppies raised in horrendous conditions, but they also do not get the proper vaccinations or medicines, or the right paperwork like microchips and pet passports.
“To make matters worse, the puppies are taken from their mothers too young.
“More needs to be done to block the puppy farmers’ route to market,” she said.
She said the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 has been helpful in bringing convictions, but the rate of exports is still too high.
The committee, she added, has a clear role to examine animal-welfare issues and in “conducting scrutiny of bills already enacted”.
“We need to see whether the legislation is working out in practice as intended, and if not, to figure out why and to recommend how to address the problems.”
Theft prevention
Meanwhile, earlier this year, An Garda Síochána outlined a number of ways to keep your dog safe, following an increase in dog theft at the time.
Their six key tips to keeping your dogs safe are:
- Get your dog microchipped, if not already done;
- Keep your dog in sight;
- Think about CCTV;
- Don’t tie up your dog;
- Report theft immediately;
- Buy from a trusted source.
In the case of microchipping, Gardaí highlight that this is the law, adding that it also makes them easy to identify if found. Meanwhile, timing is crucial when reporting dog theft – it’s important to act quickly, Gardaí underline.