{"id":39924,"date":"2019-02-28T15:58:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/intercardiff\/?p=39924"},"modified":"2020-10-30T13:03:16","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T13:03:16","slug":"puppies-trust-us-abuse-themstop-commercial-selling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/intercardiff\/politics-social-justice\/puppies-trust-us-abuse-themstop-commercial-selling","title":{"rendered":"‘Puppies trust us, but we abuse them’: law is coming to stop commercial selling"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Welsh Government launched a consultation last month on stopping commercial sales of puppies and kittens, but what does this mean for abused ani<\/span>mals in illegal\u00a0<\/span>puppy farms?<\/span><\/h2>\n

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The moment I opened the door of one of the rooms in Eileen\u2019s house, four puppies ran towards me. Happy and together, they rubbed themselves against my legs. They are lovely, energetic, healthy. I can\u2019t imagine, they ever went through a period of being abused in puppy farms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a long time to get them to trust people again and we need to teach them that people are not going to hurt them anymore,\u201d says Eileen Jones, the rescue coordinator of Friends of Animals Wales<\/a>, which is an animal charity based in South Wales for rehoming puppies, cats, and rabbits.<\/p>\n

Every year, Eileen receives sick puppies from puppy farmers who are no longer willing to breed. Puppies from these farms are often scared of people since puppy farmers breed animals only for making money and they don\u2019t care much about their welfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cLucy\u2019s Law will stop part of it because puppy farms will have no way to sell their puppies,\u201d said Eileen.<\/p>\n

The name of Lucy\u2019s law originates from a little cavalier dog named Lucy kept in a cage on a puppy farm. Lucy suffered from many health problems physically and mentally but was re-homed by Lisa Garner. Lisa started an awareness campaign on social media five years ago to make people aware of puppy farming and how bad it was for the dogs.<\/p>\n

Last year the petition behind the story has helped to change the law in England<\/a>, banning commercial third-party sales of puppies and kittens. Now, the Welsh Government has launched a consultation<\/a> which runs from 19th February until 17th May on Lucy\u2019s Law, stopping commercial sales of puppies and kittens.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/vy2AFxFgtT\/?utm_source=ig_embed<\/p>\n

Puppies are bred, sold, and traded every day in puppy farms. The annual market for the sale of puppies in the UK is estimated between 700,000 and 1.9 million. This is worth between \u00a3100 million and \u00a3300 million, according to a report <\/a>from parliament UK.<\/p>\n

Pets commercial trading is normally underground. If searching \u2018pet shop\u2019 in Cardiff on the map, only a few results come up and the nearest one is in Penarth.<\/p>\n

Actually, the pet shop is not the main buyer from puppy farms. Pets can be sold to some other third-parties such as dealers, commercial kennels and online pets\u2019 shops. These transactions are in a diverse array of premises including private homes and puppy superstores.<\/p>\n

A white bichon from a farm, Carol, has been in Eilleen\u2019s rescue centre for two months. When Eileen picked her up, she had a big tumour that hangs down and touches the floor. \u201cFor ones like Carol, we have mended her body, but her mind was very badly damaged by what happened. Carol got sick, but puppy farmers didn’t want to spend any money on her,\u201d Eileen said.<\/p>\n

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