PIF | PET GAZETTE | 11
VIEWPOINT
Nigel Baker, chief executive of the Pet Industry Federation, explores the sector’s recent
regulatory changes
I
t started at the beginning
of August, when DEFRA
released the guidance
documents for the new
Animal Activity Licensing
regulations (AAL) which become law in
October 2018. Unfortunately, due to a
technical hitch on the GOV.UK website,
DEFRA couldn’t publish them, so they asked
PIF and others to publish them to expedite
release. If you haven’t yet read them and
you sell animals, board pets (including
home boarding), breed dogs, provide day
care, or exhibit animals, then get a copy as
soon as possible, so you can understand
the implications of the new regulations and
what you have to do to comply. If you live
in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland,
breathe easy as the AAL doesn’t apply to
you, although the devolved governments are
looking at bringing out their own versions
very soon. PIF is also aware that there are
errors and anomalies in the guidance
documents so where we know there are
issues, we are taking them up with our
Primary Authority partner as well as talking to
DEFRA about them.
The other ‘good news’ story was the
announcement by DEFRA of a consultation on
a ban of third party puppy and kitten sales.
The consultation is in process now and ends
on 19 September. Although PIF agrees that
banning third party sales where welfare is
compromised is a good thing, there are a lot
of hurdles to go through before a ban should
happen. The media jumped on this story and
I was asked to appear on the BBC’s Victoria
Derbyshire Show, as well as the BBC’s 1pm
lunchtime news bulletin. My communications
manager then did a live radio interview on
BBC Three Counties Radio, followed by a
Radio 5 Live interview in the evening on the
same subject.
So here is my view on this bit of intended
legislation. Please, Mr Abraham and friends,
stop blaming pet shops for third party puppy
sales. There are circa 3000 pet shop licenses
issued each year and as far as we can
www.petgazette.biz
ascertain only 80 licensees are licensed to
sell puppies or kittens. Out of these 80, 30
are traditional pet shops. The remaining 50
are people who have a pet shop licence but
don’t have a pet shop (i.e. they may trade
from their home). The majority (99 percent)
of traditional pet shops do NOT sell puppies
so please stop blaming pet shops for this
issue! Secondly no one knows the scope of
the problem. We know 237,000 puppies are
registered by the Kennel Club each year.
We know there are circa 8.5 million dogs in
the UK and extrapolating this would mean
we need 770,000 puppies per year. My best
guess is that home breeders account for circa
400,000 of these which means that 133,000
are coming in from overseas or from puppy
farms (most of which seem to be in Wales
where English legislation does not cover!).
So, let’s get some accurate data to scope
out the problem. Thirdly, whilst the notion
of getting a dog from a rescue certain is a
good idea, rescue centres are not licensed!
The top five charities/rescue centres have an
income of over £300m per year and if the
number I have been given is correct, then
only 60,000 dogs actually need rescuing per
year (this accounts for only 0.7 percent of the
canine population). In the USA, 30 percent
of puppies/dogs are now acquired through
unlicensed rehoming centres – strange how
more rehoming centres have sprung up
‘selling’ (sorry, ‘asking for a donation for’) a
puppy. So, let’s get all rescue centres licensed
and inspected so there is a level play field
with other licensed operators.
Fourthly, this intended ban will also
apply to the third-party sale of
kittens. Unlike dogs which are
covered in the Breeding of Dogs
Act and are covered in the new
AAL, there are no regulations
in place for the breeding
of cats, as it’s not covered
in the new AAL. So, any
ban needs to bring in
legislation to cover cat
breeding.
There are, in my view, two possible
outcomes to this proposed ban: A) it holds
and no-one buys through a third party vendor,
therefore wiping out 163,000 puppy sales
per annum, or; B) the current criminals (who
already operate outside the law) continue
and there is now no way of tracking them. I
would suggest a common sense approach
of making every breeder who sells a puppy
be licensed or registered (and has to display
their licence number on every advert) and
that the rather wealthy charities use some
of their income to educate the public about
impulse buying and the need to check out
the parentage of any puppy they are thinking
of buying. Once all of the above is in place,
then think about a ban! You can contribute
to the Lucy’s Law/third party ban government
consultation at www.consult.defra.gov.uk/
animal-health-and-welfare/third-party-
sales/
See you at PATS Telford, where we can
continue the conversation!
September 2018