Danny Chambers bìll passed 🙂

Gloi

Gloi

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Good news for a change.

From the Guardian.


Liberal Democrat MP Danny Chambers’ private member’s bill has passed through the House of Commons today, with the government backing the bill.

Chambers, who is also a veterinary surgeon, said the animal welfare (import of dogs, cats and ferrets) bill will help improve the UK’s “biosecurity”.

He told the Commons:

As a vet, I’ve seen the devastating consequences of puppy smuggling. It’s unimaginably cruel to separate puppies and kittens from their mothers at a very young age, and then bring them across borders in substandard conditions where they’re then sold for maximum profit by unscrupulous traders who prioritise profit over welfare.

Turning to “biosecurity”, he added that:

There are a lot of diseases that we do not see in the UK that can affect humans as well … one of those is rabies, another’s brucella canis.

Chambers said:

The bill will close the loopholes in our pet travel rules, which are currently exploited. It does this by reducing the number of animals permitted per non-commercial movement from five per person to five per vehicle, including vehicles on board a train or a ferry, and three per person for foot or air passengers.

Careful consideration has been given to setting these limits, balancing the need to disrupt illegal trade with minimising impact on genuine pet owners. To underpin this, only an owner, not an authorised person, will be permitted to sign and declare that the movement of a dog or cat is non-commercial.

Crucially, the bill places a duty on the government to use these regulation-making powers to first deliver three key measures – a ban on the import of puppies and kittens under six months old, a ban on the import of heavily pregnant dogs and cats that are more than 42 days pregnant, and a ban on the import of dogs and cats who’ve been mutilated.

The bill will now move to the House of Lords for final approval with government backing.

I'm hopeful that this will eventually reduce the number of "imported" cropped eared dogs too.
 
The six month old ban will be a major blow for decent breeders of many vulnerable native and rare breeds who are trying to advocate for their breed and responsibly improve genetic diversity within their chosen breed.

It won't stop the puppy smuggling trade but will penalise the rule abiding owners instead, sadly.
 
Bringing in 1 pony (even one you already own) is commercial so I’d vote selling even 1 is commercial. It already is, they just currently work through loop holes.
 
rara007 said:
Bringing in 1 pony (even one you already own) is commercial so I’d vote selling even 1 is commercial. It already is, they just currently work through loop holes.
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You can argue on the vat etc but that doesn't change the blanket change to a 6 month rule which will be enforced regardless if the movement is deemed commercial or not?

I'm not really sure it's relevant if the movement is commercial or not for that particular aspect.
 
I haven’t really followed the bill but I presume it’s like the gun laws, rather than enforcing the adequate legislation that is already in place they will create new legislation and won’t enforce that either.
I presume you could still take your bitch abroad to be mated?
 
druid said:
The six month old ban will be a major blow for decent breeders of many vulnerable native and rare breeds who are trying to advocate for their breed and responsibly improve genetic diversity within their chosen breed.

It won't stop the puppy smuggling trade but will penalise the rule abiding owners instead, sadly.
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Yep, us minor breeds are going to be royally screwed by this! We have approx 200 GLPs in England, we rely on imports in part to help us keep the breed diverse.

My husband and I would have considered importing in the past but absolutely will not now that we’d have to wait for our new family member to be 6 months old. We work our dogs and expect them to cope with all sorts of bustling environments so need to have them for the key socialisation windows.

As a breed we did campaign for special dispensation, showing just how careful we are with our breeding practices and health tests. They didn’t want to know 😭
 
With a grand total of 14 schipperke puppies born here last year it'll be a real blow. A few used to come from Russia too so the numbers are already down. I'm sure that the overseas breeder I am hoping to use in the future would do a stellar job of puppy raising but it's a lot to ask and it's still not an ideal situation. My youngest, although not a rare breed, is also the offspring of two imports.
 
Would importation of semen be a viable option for breeds with numerically low numbers?

Yes I appreciate there would be cost and logistics challenges but would assume these things also apply currently when importing a live puppy? (Perhaps breed clubs could co ordinate people clubbing together if interested in the same dog to bring costs down?)

I believe a friend has done it in the past with her non vulnerable breed.

Or of course breeders would need to come up with arrangements to hold puppies until 6 months if they are destined to come here (presumably by charging more to cover their increased costs, although can appreciate it makes UK buyers less attractive to international breeders).

Obviously not possible for anyone breeding on a large scale (but should we really be supporting that anyway?) but will assume that these breeds would not be classed as vulnerable if having multiple litters at a time was usual.

Yes it might not be what people would ideally like but it is possible to take a dog at an older age and still shape them into what you would like (people do it with rescue dogs all the time). I can appreciate this would be less than ideal if the dog is needed for a specific purpose such as for certain dog sports but for a dog who does not require specific training the long term issues caused should be minimal if the breeder does a decent job of socialisation.

It’s definitely putting a few barriers in the way but I wouldn’t say it’s made it totally impossible to continue to ensure genetic diversity of vulnerable breeds.
 
Breeders on the continent already hold on to pups until they're cleared to travel after the rabies jab, having to hold on to one or more puppies on top of whatever they've kept themselves, plus all the important training and socialisation up until six months would be too much time and expense for most people and it would cost a fortune to pay for it as a purchaser on top of the price of the puppy and transporting it.

My breed organisation bans AI but one could get around it unless the dog was dead, I suppose.
 
Boulty said:
Would importation of semen be a viable option for breeds with numerically low numbers?

Yes I appreciate there would be cost and logistics challenges but would assume these things also apply currently when importing a live puppy? (Perhaps breed clubs could co ordinate people clubbing together if interested in the same dog to bring costs down?)

I believe a friend has done it in the past with her non vulnerable breed.

Or of course breeders would need to come up with arrangements to hold puppies until 6 months if they are destined to come here (presumably by charging more to cover their increased costs, although can appreciate it makes UK buyers less attractive to international breeders).

Obviously not possible for anyone breeding on a large scale (but should we really be supporting that anyway?) but will assume that these breeds would not be classed as vulnerable if having multiple litters at a time was usual.

Yes it might not be what people would ideally like but it is possible to take a dog at an older age and still shape them into what you would like (people do it with rescue dogs all the time). I can appreciate this would be less than ideal if the dog is needed for a specific purpose such as for certain dog sports but for a dog who does not require specific training the long term issues caused should be minimal if the breeder does a decent job of socialisation.

It’s definitely putting a few barriers in the way but I wouldn’t say it’s made it totally impossible to continue to ensure genetic diversity of vulnerable breeds.
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Plenty import semen (or indeed take the bitch to the dog- my next pup is the result of a uk bitch travelling to the Czech Republic as the dogs semen doesn't freeze well) but that assumes that you have a bitch to breed. There's many circumstances where you may have lost your bitch line, chose to run a dog only Kennel or wish to buy in genetics completely outside your own.

Few breeders are equipped to keep pups to 6 months. I regularly hold them until 16 weeks/4 months from our litters but even that can be a stretch in a breed that needs heavy socialising (mannies) or training well started (springers)

Several breed registries do not allow AI matings also
 
Boulty said:
Would importation of semen be a viable option for breeds with numerically low numbers?

Yes I appreciate there would be cost and logistics challenges but would assume these things also apply currently when importing a live puppy? (Perhaps breed clubs could co ordinate people clubbing together if interested in the same dog to bring costs down?)

I believe a friend has done it in the past with her non vulnerable breed.

Or of course breeders would need to come up with arrangements to hold puppies until 6 months if they are destined to come here (presumably by charging more to cover their increased costs, although can appreciate it makes UK buyers less attractive to international breeders).

Obviously not possible for anyone breeding on a large scale (but should we really be supporting that anyway?) but will assume that these breeds would not be classed as vulnerable if having multiple litters at a time was usual.

Yes it might not be what people would ideally like but it is possible to take a dog at an older age and still shape them into what you would like (people do it with rescue dogs all the time). I can appreciate this would be less than ideal if the dog is needed for a specific purpose such as for certain dog sports but for a dog who does not require specific training the long term issues caused should be minimal if the breeder does a decent job of socialisation.

It’s definitely putting a few barriers in the way but I wouldn’t say it’s made it totally impossible to continue to ensure genetic diversity of vulnerable breeds.
Click to expand...
What I find really perplexing is people will spend a hug amount of money importing rescue dogs that have no history, no papers, are older, have behaviour problem and often in poor health. We know someone who has spent over £5k on vet bills for an imported 'rescue' that has health problems, and I also have a friend who imported a street dog,paid for is kennelling ,vaccs etc in the it original country, flights, and then quarantine here,which at that time it needed. I think for the right buyer, money seems not to be an issue, perhaps perhaps it's better marketing?
My help is also a dog walker, and one her problems is customers do not train their dogs from puppies, so they are difficult in normal situations, and how many dogs are left alone all day, and they were not cheap dogs, so for some six months in kennels with hopefully training would be a a good thing.
I think its all down to why someone wants a dog, ordinary people where paying £3k for a puppy in lock down, just to have a puppy, one that cost £1500 was cheap.
 
AI wouldn’t be unusual in my breed but I keep a male myself, don’t have a bitch to use and while working full time can’t see me being in a position to raise a litter (which is half the problem here, we have some super quality dogs in the UK but so few people breeding). It’s an overseas bitch’s line I’m interested in, there’s a (small) chance I’d be asked to export semen. Until a lottery win when I have time and space I am seeking a specific puppy for my own needs, not a breeding opportunity.

The breeder would be forgiven for picking someone in their own country rather than running on another dog for six months on the promise the expenses will be covered. I assume transport costs are going to increase also if there’s a cap on numbers per vehicle.
 
It is hard work for a breeder to socialise a pup they have sold if they’re also keeping a puppy for themselves . I did it some years ago when I sold a pup to Spain and had to wait for rabies jabs etc . Carrying one GSd pup around is hard going, 2 is impossible! I had to do it individually which took all my spare time, though her new owners were thrilled with the house trained , well socialised pup they got .
 
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