Government responds to Petition

As 10,000 signatures were reached - the Government has responded to the petition, as below.

If 100,000 signatures are reached - then a parliamentary debate will be considered - Sign Here - “Introduce Licensing and Regulation for Dog and Cat Rescues to Protect Welfare” https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/718660

The Petitions Committee (the group of MPs who oversee the petitions system) has considered the Government’s response to this petition. They felt the response did not respond directly to the request of the petition. They have therefore asked the Government to provide a revised response. When the Committee receives a revised response from the Government, it will be published.

Government response:
Animal rescue organisations must meet existing statutory welfare requirements. Moving forward, we are developing an overarching approach to animal welfare and will outline more detail in due course.
The Government appreciates the important work that responsible animal sanctuaries as well as rescue and rehoming organisations do, often on a voluntary basis, to ensure that animals taken into the care of these organisations are offered the opportunity of a forever home.
There are existing protections under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 whereby any person responsible for an animal, whether on a permanent or temporary basis, has a duty to ensure the welfare of the animals in their care. Companion animal rescue and rehoming organisations in England and Wales must therefore comply with statutory welfare requirements set out in the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
The Department encourages individuals to report any concerns regarding whether these standards are being met to the relevant local authority, which has powers to investigate.
Members of the public can also check if the rescue centre they use is a member of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes, which has set clear standards for animal assessments, neutering and rehoming procedures that all members adhere to.
More broadly, the Department is developing an overarching approach to animal welfare and has initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of this work. It will be outlining more detail of plans in due course.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill Update

 This Bill was debated in Parliament on Wednesday 14 May 2025

A copy of the Bill, as amended, can be found here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3790/publications

The Bill aims to help end puppy smuggling, to ban imports of animals with mutilations and to reduce the risk of some diseases being imported.

#PuppySmugglingBill #flopdontcrop

You can ask your MP to support the Imports Bill – please contact them today. MP’s will vote for the Bill on the 4^th July, ask yours to support.

Government background explanatory notes:

The Bill aims to address growing concerns about the low welfare movement of dogs and cats into the United Kingdom.

Dogs, cats and ferrets can enter the United Kingdom in one of two ways: as non-commercial pet travel movements or commercial imports.  More stringent requirements apply to commercial imports than to non-commercial movements. Evidence has shown that commercial movements are frequently being disguised as non-commercial movements to  avoid these more stringent requirements. 

In 2023, over 500 landings of dogs and cats were intercepted at the Port of Dover and found to be non-compliant with import requirements. Of these, 116 puppies and kittens were quarantined for being below the legally required minimum age for import. This data does not include animals detained at airports or found inland.  The true extent of puppy smuggling operations is unknown and so these figures likely only capture a small portion of the animals smuggled into the country.

There are concerns about an emerging market involving the importation of heavily pregnant dogs and cats, and those which have been mutilated (ear cropped dogs, tail docked dogs and declawed cats).  

Defra have regularly been called upon to change the legislation and inhibit the trade for low welfare movements of dogs and cats, most recently by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) following its inquiry into pet welfare in abuse.  This looked at the scale and profitability of the illegal trade and the conditions in which dogs are being imported into the United Kingdom. The recommendations from that inquiry included the introduction of a limit on the number of dogs, cats and ferrets that can be brought into the UK as a non-commercial movement from five per person to five per vehicle, and three per foot or air passenger; as well as a ban on the movement of puppies and kittens under six months and pregnant dogs and cats in the last 30% of gestation. EFRA Committee also recommended that the Government should give priority to closing loopholes that enable the importation of mutilated animals. There is strong public support for intervention in the sector and concerns on the practice of “puppy smuggling” and low-welfare imports have been raised by third sector organisations and animal welfare groups.

These Explanatory Notes relate to the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill.