The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Why dog theft is soaring after lockdown
advertised for £2,250 to £3,000 across Tayside and Fife.
Soaring prices have encouraged more people to steal dogs, either selling them on immediately, or forcing adults to breed on “puppy farms”.
Both cash-hungry opportunists and more sinister organised gangs are getting in on the act.
For the gangs, it’s easier and lower risk than dealing drugs – and they can make a fortune.
In October, MPS debated the idea of making pet theft a specific offence, after 300,000 people signed a petition calling for this.
Home Secretary Priti Patel was in talks in February about upgrading pet theft to a more serious offence, meaning stronger penalties could apply.
Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn hopes tougher sentencing can be imposed to reflect the emotional impact.
“The Theft Act is treated the same as stealing your mobile,” he says.
“I know some people are incredibly attached to their mobiles but it’s not the kind of relationship you have with a family pet.
“The Theft Act doesn’t take into account the distress it can cause people – sleepless nights wondering if they’ll ever see their dog again.
“It should consider this emotional distress and use this to influence the sentence given out.”
Mike advises dog owners to keep pets on a lead in public places, never to tie them up outside shops, and to ensure gardens are secure.
“There are reports of houses being targeted with thieves putting ribbons or markers round lampposts or marking houses, fences, gates or bricks with chalk,” he says.
“Dog owners need to be extra vigilant. Make sure your dog is microchipped and keep your details up to date.
“We still get stray dogs coming in that are microchipped but when you contact the owner, you find they’ve moved house and not updated their new phone number or address.
“If the information’s not there, we’re stuck with a dog that we’ve no idea where it comes from.”
Mike says the trouble comes from dealers, often from abroad or Ireland, bringing puppies to the UK and selling them for ridiculous money.
“The problem is there’s not enough reputable breeders in the UK, never mind Scotland, to supply the demand,” he explains.
“These people don’t care about the dogs. Once they’ve got their money, you’ll never hear from them again. A lot of them use burner phones so the police can’t trace it and you can’t get hold of them.”
Those who buy pups off Gumtree or online – “from just a mobile phone” – are to blame for the increase in puppy prices and dog thefts, says Mike.
“People will happily pay more than £2,000 in a supermarket car park. They aren’t prepared to wait for a pup from a reputable breeder – they want it now.
“These dealers will use Covid as an excuse and say ‘normally you’d be able to come and see mum with her pups, but instead, I’ll deliver the pup to you tomorrow’ – and people fall for it! It’s like buying a second hand car from a bus stop. You’re just asking for trouble.”
The Scottish SPCA receives hundreds of calls from people who’ve bought what they believed was a healthy puppy but a few
days later, it’s developed deadly parvovirus. “They’re watching their dogs literally die in front of them,” laments Mike.
“They’ve paid £3,000 for it and could rack up thousands of pounds in vet fees because it’s come from a puppy farm. It’s heartbreaking.”
Under current laws, the risk, for many, of stealing and selling dogs and pups is well worth it.
“The average fine is £500 so they just pay the fine and carry on selling pups,” says Mike.
“We’re seeing a lot of travelling families coming over from Ireland who might have five pups in a car each. If you’ve got an extended family with four cars, each full of five pups, that’s 20 pups. They’re basically doing a round robin delivery, collecting the cash, and then heading back to Ireland with thousands of pounds.
“If you’re caught coming into Cairnryan with £20,000 worth of drugs, you’re going to jail.
“But come in with £20,000 of profit in pups, you get a £500 fine and you won’t go to jail. You’re back out getting more pups because the chances of getting caught are pretty remote.
“The pups are just a commodity to these people; they don’t care about health and welfare.”
Mike reckons the price will drop for two reasons – when demand drops, with people going back to work, and as borders relax and more pups are made available, coming in legally from Ireland and abroad.
“It’s the public’s impatience that’s this,” he laments.
“It’s today’s society. If your fridge packs in, you go online and get one the next day. You can do that with a dog today.”
Claire Wilson-leary, senior public affairs officer at Dogs Trust, says it’s important to consider the lifelong commitment involved in getting a dog and whether it will fit into your life post-lockdown.
“We originally anticipated up to 40,000 dogs could be at risk of abandonment because caused
of the pandemic, and while the full effects of this have yet to be felt, we believe the worst is yet to come,” she says.
At the start of January there were more than 1,000 adverts for dogs on “three of the largest classified websites”, which was a 59% increase compared to March in 2020, says Claire.
“We’re concerned about dogs purchased during the pandemic for large sums of money being re-sold online, as we know when things don’t work out and owners seek to find a new home for their dog themselves, this can lead to dogs being cycled from home to home,” she says.
Dogs Trust is also concerned about the welfare of puppies caught up in puppy farming.
“Very often puppies, generally under the legal minimum of 15 weeks, are illegally smuggled into the UK for sale with either no or falsified paperwork and without having received treatments including rabies vaccinations,” says Claire.
“These puppies are forced to travel for long journeys in squalid, cramped conditions with no toilet breaks, no food and insufficient water, so they can be sold to unsuspecting buyers.
“Our ‘Change the Tale’ campaign provides potential dog owners with information, including how to purchase a dog responsibly and avoid the pitfalls of being scammed by unscrupulous breeders.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We know how distressing the loss of a dog is at any time.
“This can be particularly acute where there are concerns that the dog may have been stolen.
“We work closely with partners such as the Scottish SPCA and will thoroughly investigate any instances of suspected criminality in order to bring perpetrators to justice.”
THEY’VE PAID £3,000 FOR IT AND COULD RACK UP THOUSANDS OF POUNDS IN VET FEES BECAUSE IT’S COME FROM A PUPPY FARM. IT’S HEARTBREAKING
Figures from Direct Line Pet Insurance revealed an estimated 2,438 dogs were reported stolen last year. Only 22% were reunited with their owners.
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