Thank you for contacting me about puppy smuggling. I would like to assure you that Ministers are committed to cracking down on puppy smuggling and will ban the imports of young or heavily pregnant dogs, as well as dogs with mutilations, such as cropped ears or docked tails. Applying strengthened penalties will send a clear message that animal cruelty will not be tolerated and will enable our courts to take a firmer approach to cases where pets are illegally imported. I know that the Government would be supportive of legislation to ban this through a single-issue Bill when parliamentary time allows.
Continued on PDF.