500 signatures reached
To: Owen Paterson MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Stop unregulated dog breeding
Dear Owen Paterson,
The amount of unwanted dogs is overwhelming rescue centres throughout the UK.
Fuelled by an increasing demand for pedigree ‘macho-image’ dogs, unregulated breeding practices are seeing animals bred and raised in terrible conditions. It is also causing social problems with an increase in the number of dogs bred for fighting out on the streets.
Please introduce compulsory breeding licences and a ‘Responsible Breeder’s Code of Practice’ before it is too late.
Why is this important?
We work at Animal Lifeline – a registered charity based in Stoke-on-Trent. In the thirty years it has been running, the situation with unwanted or abandoned dogs is the worst we’ve ever seen it.
The problem is most critical with Staffordshire Bull Terriers and breeds associated with a macho image.
Such dogs are often bred for fighting, and charities like ours are bursting at the seams with animals that have become too much of a handful for people to look after.
We want to see a law enforced saying that no one can breed pedigree dogs without a license. The stipulations of that license need careful consideration but we’d recommend that:
Any individual granted a license must follow a ‘Responsible Breeder’s Code of Practice’,
All recipients must be properly home-checked,
Spot checks are carried out on breeders by authorised authorities to ensure they adhere to animal welfare laws and the Code of Practice,
A log book similar to the log book of a motor vehicle , to be passed on if the dog is transferred to new owners
Please sign and share the petition. This trend of the overbreeding of 'macho-image ' dogs must be addressed.
