more than doubled from 5,964
responded to 94,277 incidents
“We know that there are not
(June - August 2019) to 12,733
across England and Wales -
enough puppies bred in the UK
for the same three-month
almost half of all incidents
to meet the demands of those
period this year. The figures
reported related to dogs,
who want to buy them and,
suggest that this rise in demand 45,181.
worryingly, there appears to be
is fuelling a worrying trend in
a surge in puppies coming in
breeding and importing of
RSPCA chief executive Chris
puppies, which, if not bought
Sherwood said: “We have seen
from a responsible breeder, is a a rise in people searching for
from outside the UK. “The problem with this is that,
potentially exploitative and
dogs to adopt during lockdown, although breeders from
damaging trade which can
which is fantastic, but at the
countries like Romania are
cause life-long suffering to
same time, there appears to be
licensed, we have no way of
dogs.
a rise in people looking to buy
checking the conditions those
puppies.
animals are being kept in and
During 2020 (up to 29
we fear that sales like these
September), the RSPCA
could be fuelling cruel puppy
Vet