On behalf of Dogs Trust, Europe's largest dog welfare charity, I thank the members of the joint committee for the invitation to address them this afternoon. I am pleased to represent the views not only of Dogs Trust but of a coalition of long-established groups associated with dogs in Ireland, including the Veterinary Ireland Companion Animal Society, VICAS, and the principal animal welfare organisations within the State, DSPCA, ISPCA and the Irish Blue Cross. I am accompanied by Ms Orla Aungier of DSPCA and Mr. Peter Wedderburn representing VICAS. We have joined together to highlight our support for the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill, currently passing through the Oireachtas.
The animal welfare charity Dogs Trust is Europe's largest dog welfare organisation and was founded in 1891 at the first ever Crufts dog show. Today, Dogs Trust has 18 rehoming centres in Great Britain and Ireland. In 2009, we looked after just over 16,000 dogs. Dogs Trust was established in Ireland in 2005. This happened because of the close links we had developed with Irish welfare organisations who wanted to see more being done to deal with general dog welfare in Ireland.
Dogs Trust, together with our animal welfare colleagues, has recently highlighted our support for the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill. We are somewhat concerned at the stance taken by certain groups on the Bill, which is intended to regulate unscrupulous dog breeders while protecting those who breed with high welfare standards. We are increasingly concerned that hunting and other issues unconnected to breeding are being brought into the debate and muddying the waters of a serious and ongoing animal welfare issue.
Why is the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill important from an animal welfare perspective? Ireland does not have standards for the intensive breeding of dogs as in other western European countries, thus facilitating unscrupulous intensive breeders who can take advantage of our lax controls. This situation has and does lead to widely reported incidents of over-breeding of animals in poor welfare conditions. This legislation is not targeted at small scale breeders or conscientious breeders. A breeding establishment is defined in the Bill as having six or more bitches. Those with fewer will not be affected by the legislation. Likewise, well-managed, well-maintained dog breeding premises have nothing to fear from the new proposals. The legislation will enable the appropriate authorities to deal with sites where dogs are bred intensively with little or no consideration for their welfare and where puppies are considered to be products, mass produced to create maximum profit for the breeder.
Conditions in these puppy battery farms are often crowded, dirty and poorly lit. The dogs sleep on bare floors with little or no bedding. The breeding bitches have a litter every season, often two litters a year, and are kept pregnant on a continuous cycle, nursing litter after litter until they are physically exhausted. The pups have minimal human contact. Some are not let out of their cage and do not see the outside world until they are sold. They are usually not vaccinated or treated for worms and are likely to be taken away from their mother before they are six weeks old, which is considered by most vets to be too early. This fast turnover is the key to ensuring that the breeder only has to spend the absolute minimum on feeding the pups.
This type of intensive breeding typifies a battery farming operation. Not all puppy battery farms will be on a grand scale. However, they will all share one characteristic — a willingness to compromise the welfare of dogs to maximise profit. That is the sole reason this legislation is required.
The Bill has nothing to do with hunting, angling or wider country pursuits as claimed in certain quarters. The purpose of the Bill is to safeguard the health and welfare of dogs, a subject of serious concern to the vast majority of people living in the countryside, as well as those in urban areas. The Bill is not part of a specific Green Party agenda. The process was started by Fianna Fáil more than four years ago following widespread concerns about animal welfare abuses in puppy battery farms. The legislation is essentially implementing many of the recommendations made by an expert committee convened by Fianna Fáil.
Some dog breeders and interested parties have expressed fears that the legislation will be enforced by unqualified animal welfare workers. In fact, members of the Local Authority Veterinary Service, LAVS, a professional body of State vets employed by individual local authorities, will oversee fair and reasonable implementation of the Bill. The authorisation of officers to enforce the Bill will be carried out by local authorities. Trained and qualified members of the ISPCA and DSPCA have been authorised by local authorities under the Control of Dogs Act and the Control of Horses Act for a number of years, some as far back as 1986, and have provided a professional and valued service during that time. Furthermore, the groups I represent fully endorse the need for balance between animal welfare and the freedom of individuals to enjoy the companionship of domestic animals as pets, as well as the rights of responsible breeders to maintain a livelihood. We strongly subscribe to the notion of preventive measures as the best means of promoting and protecting animal welfare and the experience of the DSPCA and the ISPCA of operating under the Control of Dogs Act 1986 and the Control of Horses Act 1996 is that, given the right authorisation, organisations such as ours can educate and negotiate better care for animals by their owners without necessarily resorting to enforcement.
I will move on to the question of exemptions from the Bill. During the course of the deliberations of the expert group to review the management of dog breeding establishments, which reported in June 2005, it was decided that the legal definition of a dog breeding establishment must be clear and unambiguous to ensure that regulations were enforceable. It was felt that a definition based on the number of female dogs with breeding potential present on the premises would be a more practically enforceable option. It was recognised that such a definition could bring non-commercial breeding establishments and some non-breeding establishments within the terms of the proposed regulatory system. The possibility of making a decision between commercial and non-commercial breeding establishments was discussed but the working group felt that such a distinction would be difficult to enforce.
The Bill proposes that hunt kennels will be exempt from paying fees. However, if such kennels include six or more bitches of breeding age they, too, must register and be subject to possible inspection. There is no logical reason any kennel that breeds dogs should be exempt from reasonable standards of animal welfare and there is a major concern that if some premises are allowed to be exempt from inspection, a loophole will be created that may be exploited by individuals attempting to avoid all regulation.
With regard to greyhound kennels, the Greyhound Industry Act 1958 is solely about identifying and regulating greyhound racing — it does not mention welfare or breeding. The Dog Breeding Establishments Bill will not result in double taxation or double regulation. There is an existing inspection system for greyhounds but this does not extend to the breeding establishments, nor does it involve the inspection of dogs that are not being raced — which make up the majority of greyhounds held by breeders and the racing establishment. More than 1,000 of the 10,000 stray and unwanted dogs euthanised in Ireland's dog pounds in 2008 were greyhounds, one of the highest levels of any single breed. They are at least as much a part of the dog problem in Ireland as any other type of animal. There is no justification for any exemption from reasonable, affordable regulation of breeding.
The alleged high cost of regulation amounts to a pro rata sum that is a maximum of €400 per year for six or more breeding bitches, or less than €70 per breeding animal. If each bitch produces only seven puppies a year, though many will produce more than this, it will amount to a maximum cost of €10 on the price of a puppy that may be sold for €600 or more. This is a balanced and reasonable price to pay to ensure that minimal standards of animal welfare are upheld, especially as breeders’ organisations admit that the industry is worth in excess of €29 million per annum.
There have been suggestions that the legislation is somehow part of some larger, anti-countryside conspiracy. This could not be further from the truth and is clearly not the case. Animal welfare is the central aim of the legislation and it is vital that the public are given the truth. The legislation is quite simply about bringing our laws into line with international best practice, improving Ireland's international image and protecting the welfare of animals. The Dog Breeding Establishments Bill 2009 is a necessary piece of legislation that will ensure Ireland will no longer be referred to as the puppy farm capital of Europe. I thank members for their time.