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 4th 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.
