On Monday 6th April the UK Government introduced new legislation to help tackle the low welfare and high volume supply of puppies and kittens. Lucy’s law will help protect our pets!
Where it started?
Lucy a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was rescued from a welsh puppy farm 7 years ago. She’d been kept in a cage most of her life, her hips had fused together, she had a curved spine, bald patches and epilepsy after years of mistreatment.
Lisa Garner re-homed the 5 year old Lucy and made sure Lucy’s story changed the law.
Lisa filled Lucy’s life with lots of love and happiness until Lucy passed away after just 3 years at just 8 years old.
Dogs like Lucy are often kept by the breeder at a puppy farm to produce litter after litter of puppies. These puppies are then taken away from their mother at just 4 or weeks old. Dogs like Lucy are subjected to appalling conditions.
Puppies raised in these conditions can become extremely sick as they are not cared for properly, may not receive the correct veterinary attention and are not socialised with other dogs. There are countless stories of puppies coming into a new home and becoming incredibly ill after just a few days.
What the law means?
Lucy’s law means that anyone wanting to get a new puppy or kitten in England must now buy direct from a breeder or consider adopting from a rescue centre instead. Licensed dog breeders are required to show puppies interacting with their mothers in their place of birth. If a business sells puppies or kittens without a license, they could receive an unlimited fine or be sent to prison for up to 6 months.
The Government has also committed to supporting tougher sentences for animal cruelty, raising the maximum prison sentence from 6 months to five years and has pledged to make a number of other positive changes including ending excessively long journeys for live animals.
We need more.
Lucy’s Law covers animals up to 6 months old.
- We don’t believe these laws yet go far enough but it’s an amazing step in the right direction.
- We believe all third party selling (or giving away) of pets should be illegal.
- We believe websites like Done Deal and Gumtree should not be allowed to have private sellers to advertising pets as this does not guarantee the pets a happy and safe home.
Last year a male was arrested in Ayr Scotland for taking and buying cats off Gumtree and “baiting” them. He trained his dogs to hunt and kill these cats for his own amusement. This man did this with over 50 cats and was suspected to be behind a number of other missing cats.
He abused his dogs in their training hitting, screaming and shouting at them. 2 of the dogs had facial injuries and scars. One of the dogs unfortunately had to be put to sleep when they were rescued. Both the cats and dogs suffered horrendously at the hands of this appalling and depraved man.
The law needs strengthened as this man will be on his release from prison be able to adopt more animals on his release from prison due to lax laws which allows the sale or giving away of animals on these websites with no checks.
He received only a 10 month prison sentence and was banned from keeping animals for 10 years. This will not stop him doing it again.
We believe any pet which is being re-homed should be done with the assistance of a rescue or rehoming centre to help with home checks and the rehoming process.
Lucy’s law should and needs to be implemented throughout the UK. I recently signed a petition for this law to be implemented in Northern Ireland where we are based. If you want to sign you can HERE.
From another area? Start or sign and share a campaign to strengthen your animal welfare laws.
