SICK TRICKS OF DODGY PUPPY DEALERS
They use rented flats and fake families to sell sick and dying dogs for thousands
PUPPY farm gangsters are using rented flats and phoney families to earn the trust of dog buyers.
The heartless breeders give the impression the pets are well looked after but the animals are riddled with disease and dying.
ORGANISED gangs of puppy farmers are using rented flats as shop fronts to lure in victims.
A ring of closely-knit Irish breeders is booking lets in flats in Glasgow to create a false impression of pups being well looked after in family settings, the Record can reveal.
Some are going to great lengths to make it look appear as though they are family pets, with a baby as a cover story.
In reality, they have been wrenched illegally from their mums in Irish puppy farms at an early age, in poor health, with many doomed to die.
The gangs, using Gumtree and Pets4Homes, are driving the pets, some which have hours to live, to unsuspecting buyers.
The Record has told recently of people being devastated by the deaths of Border collies shortly after handing over about £1000 top Irish sellers.
Beagles and Jack Russells are also commonly traded by the gangs.
Inspectors from the Scottish SPCA’s Special Investigations Unit are currently dealing with 80 cases of dogs being sold in suspicious circumstances, with dodgy paperwork, fake electronic chips and in dreadful physical condition.
A repeating trend has been for Irish couples to bring in the dogs – using their own babies and children to create the impression of the dogs coming from loving homes.
One officer told us how he has been forced to go around Scots addresses collecting the bodies of pups that have died from suspected parvovirus and other ailments.
He said: “We have the most blatant patterns of behaviour, which involve connected people coming over from Northern Ireland with dogs in the back of cars and in bags, which are already advertised on Gumtree and other places. “The dogs have been taken to rental homes in places like Glasgow, Paisley and Renfrew, where there are no proper facilities to look after them.
“They are using multiple mobile phones and fake identities and using adverts for cutprice dogs to draw in the quick sale.
“They prefer not to have people come to their home, as that can lead to then getting arrested.
“But they don’t stay in any address for very long, just enough time to move on litters of pups.”
The inspector said the same addresses have popped up again and again, with the teams of sellers trading intensively while in the country.
The inspector said he has dealt with several members of the same families, who are “notorious” for their poor breeding conditions and the high instance of puppy deaths after they are sold.
He said: “These people don’t give a damn about the pups. They just want them moved on as soon as possible.
“They are silver-tongued deception artists and confidence tricksters and pre-armed with well-rehearsed excuses for people not being able to meet the pups’ parents.
“They are friendly and receptive all the way thorough the sales process but once the pups have sold, the phone will either not be working or they will block the callers.
“They often present as young couples and we have heard of babies being presented or photos being produced to lull people into a false sense of security.”
Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn said: “We are being overwhelmed with reports of sick and dying pups because the public continues to fuel the low-welfare puppy trade.
“These dealers are master manipulators and will use any means necessary to sell you that pup. They are using the pandemic as an excuse to drop the pup to you.
“They are also using rented accommodation to sell pups under the pretence they live there. Once the transactions are over, they up and leave with little chance of being traced.
“We need the public to help us tackle
this abhorrent industry. As long as public demand exists, then pups will still become sick and die because these bad breeders put financial gain over animal welfare.”
Campaigners from the Animal Cruelty Files Facebook page have circulated distressing recent stories featured in the Record.
They are warning potential buyers to beware bogus stories from Irish people using rented homes, highlighting one trader and saying:
“The property will have been rented so as to give buyers the impression of a comfortable family home environment.
“In reality, the pups he is selling will have started out life on a filthy puppy farm and will develop diseases and conditions such as deadly parvovirus or giardia.
“In the recent past, the group have used similar properties in Paisley, Neilston and Toryglen on Glasgow’s southside to sell their poorly puppies but they have placed ads as far afield as Aberdeen.
“When one buyer made contact with the man that had sold her a dying puppy, he laughed in her face, told her he had her money and there was nothing she could do about it.
“He didn’t give a jot about the tiny puppy that had died a slow and painful death.” ● The Scottish SPCA helpline number is 03000 999 999.