PETE WEDDERBURN Animal Doctor

that are destined to be passed on to new homes in the UK

There is a specific European Directive – known as the Balai Directive – that governs the cross border transport of all dogs other than personal pets. Any dogs being exported for commercial purposes (e.g. any puppy to be sold or rehomed) must comply with Balai Directive, which has been in place for two years. This applies as much as dogs travelling from France to Germany, or the Netherlands to Belgium, as much as it does between Ireland and the UK. It’s been introduced as a way of regulating trade in living animals. Other animals – such as farm animals – are equally tightly controlled for cross-border trade.

The Balai Directive lays down strict rules for puppies and dogs that are crossing borders. They need to be microchipped, registered and vaccinated against rabies three weeks before travel. Critically, they have to be at least twelve weeks old on the date of travel (In fact, since the rabies vaccine cannot be given earlier than twelve weeks of age, no puppy is allowed to travel before it’s 15 weeks old ). Additionally, all pups and dogs have to be health checked by a vet within two days of the date of transport, and they must have a certificate stating this. The premises where the dogs begin their journey must be registered and approved by the authorities in the exporting country as “Balai compliant premises”, and they can only be transported in a “Type Two Transporter”: this is a vehicle that has been formally registered for transporting dogs

These rules involves a significant financial cost, and that’s why so many people try to smuggle puppies out, in car boots and vans. Authorities in both the UK and Ireland have begun to crack down on the ferry port routes – often from the Republic via Northern Ireland and on to Scotland – used to transport pups. International, multi-agency action is clamping down on puppy smugglers.

“Operation Delphin” is a joint operation by animal protection officers in Scotland and Ireland (SSPCA, RSPCA, ISPCA, DSPCA) as well as customs, Revenue Commissioners, ferry operators and other UK and Irish authorities. They have been using intelligence gained from observing people selling puppies in the UK to target vehicles and individuals at ports.

So here’s the good news: at last, the puppy smugglers are losing the battle.