Illegal dog trafficking, the problem but what is the solution?
I'm realising for many people, what is actually going on is difficult to understand.
I have the proof in front of me, documents, statements etc and so it all fits together, it's more difficult to understand if you don't have this.
In this post I will try to explain the extent of the crack in the TRACES and pet passport systems and hopefully you will understand why I seem hell bent on ensuring APHA re-evaluate the effectiveness of these systems.
I will focus on Romania and Serbia but this is also relevant to many other countries as on this journey I had discovered or heard of dogs being illegally trafficked from as far away as China.
Let's call the dog Bowser.
Bowser arrives in the UK with a Romanian microchip and passport. The passport is filled in with batch numbers, vaccine dates, dog ID information and microchip number. The passport is signed and stamped by a vet in Romania. The dog has his TRACES document and is entered in the system. Everything complies with EU and UK regulations and so off Bowser goes to his new home with his new family.
So what is wrong with that?
The above is the version that you, border control, DEFRA vets, your vet and anybody else sees. In actual fact, the reality is very different.
Bowser actually came from Serbia and getting a dog out of Serbia legally involves more time, money and paperwork. So the dog is illegally moved from Serbia to Romania. He is then given a passport which in many cases has been completed by a vet who will never even see the dog. The vets are paid for these passports, the TRACE units the dogs travel through know the dogs are illegal but they are also making money by putting the dogs through TRACES. TRACES is the TRAde Control and Expert System it is supposed to provide a means of tracing animal movement from the country of origin to the destination country.
By creating a new"Romanian" identity for Bowser, nobody here in the UK, except perhaps the owner, has any idea of his life before arriving in Romania.
That means nobody can be 100% sure he was vaccinated, or wormed and if the people involved are willing to lie and break the law by illegally trafficking, can you in fact trust any claims they make about the dogs? Is he good with cats, oh yes wonderful! Is he okay with children, yes he rolls around with my niece pulling on his ears all the time! Would you believe them? I certainly wouldn't.
But they do this for the love of the dogs, they make hardly any money so they are not bad people! I hear this time and again. The minimum monthly wage in Serbia is £250/month the average £335. A profit of even £40 on each dog makes "rescuing" a profitable business. If they cut corners and do not vaccinate or worm, their profits increase. Then there are the perks of fund raising, usually for more than what is required and that's if the fund raiser is actually genuine in the first place. For example, prices for boarding dogs range from £3-10 a day, £10 for the most expensive and luxurious facilities. So why are there so many fund raisers claiming the dog has debts of hundreds of pounds for a short stay in a "pension" or vets fees of £500 for an operation that cost less than £200? So yes, sadly there is money to be made. Whilst there might be some genuine rescuers bringing the dogs out illegally, the fact they are doing so and that many are in it purely for the money, makes it difficult to see the wood from the trees!
During my journey of discovery, I discovered something else that is supposedly happening which is just as worrying and the potential to impact on genuine Romanian rescues. Just as with the puppies being brought in, some and I stress some, Romanian dogs are coming over with similarly signed and stamped passports having never been rabies vaccinated.
With dogs like Bowser, from Serbia or dogs from Bosnia, it is easier to prove the illegality if the new owner knows the country of origin however, if you have a rescue dog arriving from Romania with perfectly legal looking documentation, how can you or the authorities tel whether your dog was vaccinated and wormed or not! You can't, nobody can and that is why the current system is useless. While corrupt vets, TRACES license holders and officials exist in the countries of origin, the whole of the international rescue community are under the shadow of those operating illegally and they, along with people like me, should be pushing the authorities to weed these people out and tighten up current regulations or bring in more effective ones as otherwise, genuine rescues and shelters will be affected.
I have the proof in front of me, documents, statements etc and so it all fits together, it's more difficult to understand if you don't have this.
In this post I will try to explain the extent of the crack in the TRACES and pet passport systems and hopefully you will understand why I seem hell bent on ensuring APHA re-evaluate the effectiveness of these systems.
I will focus on Romania and Serbia but this is also relevant to many other countries as on this journey I had discovered or heard of dogs being illegally trafficked from as far away as China.
Let's call the dog Bowser.
Bowser arrives in the UK with a Romanian microchip and passport. The passport is filled in with batch numbers, vaccine dates, dog ID information and microchip number. The passport is signed and stamped by a vet in Romania. The dog has his TRACES document and is entered in the system. Everything complies with EU and UK regulations and so off Bowser goes to his new home with his new family.
So what is wrong with that?
The above is the version that you, border control, DEFRA vets, your vet and anybody else sees. In actual fact, the reality is very different.
Bowser actually came from Serbia and getting a dog out of Serbia legally involves more time, money and paperwork. So the dog is illegally moved from Serbia to Romania. He is then given a passport which in many cases has been completed by a vet who will never even see the dog. The vets are paid for these passports, the TRACE units the dogs travel through know the dogs are illegal but they are also making money by putting the dogs through TRACES. TRACES is the TRAde Control and Expert System it is supposed to provide a means of tracing animal movement from the country of origin to the destination country.
By creating a new"Romanian" identity for Bowser, nobody here in the UK, except perhaps the owner, has any idea of his life before arriving in Romania.
That means nobody can be 100% sure he was vaccinated, or wormed and if the people involved are willing to lie and break the law by illegally trafficking, can you in fact trust any claims they make about the dogs? Is he good with cats, oh yes wonderful! Is he okay with children, yes he rolls around with my niece pulling on his ears all the time! Would you believe them? I certainly wouldn't.
But they do this for the love of the dogs, they make hardly any money so they are not bad people! I hear this time and again. The minimum monthly wage in Serbia is £250/month the average £335. A profit of even £40 on each dog makes "rescuing" a profitable business. If they cut corners and do not vaccinate or worm, their profits increase. Then there are the perks of fund raising, usually for more than what is required and that's if the fund raiser is actually genuine in the first place. For example, prices for boarding dogs range from £3-10 a day, £10 for the most expensive and luxurious facilities. So why are there so many fund raisers claiming the dog has debts of hundreds of pounds for a short stay in a "pension" or vets fees of £500 for an operation that cost less than £200? So yes, sadly there is money to be made. Whilst there might be some genuine rescuers bringing the dogs out illegally, the fact they are doing so and that many are in it purely for the money, makes it difficult to see the wood from the trees!
During my journey of discovery, I discovered something else that is supposedly happening which is just as worrying and the potential to impact on genuine Romanian rescues. Just as with the puppies being brought in, some and I stress some, Romanian dogs are coming over with similarly signed and stamped passports having never been rabies vaccinated.
With dogs like Bowser, from Serbia or dogs from Bosnia, it is easier to prove the illegality if the new owner knows the country of origin however, if you have a rescue dog arriving from Romania with perfectly legal looking documentation, how can you or the authorities tel whether your dog was vaccinated and wormed or not! You can't, nobody can and that is why the current system is useless. While corrupt vets, TRACES license holders and officials exist in the countries of origin, the whole of the international rescue community are under the shadow of those operating illegally and they, along with people like me, should be pushing the authorities to weed these people out and tighten up current regulations or bring in more effective ones as otherwise, genuine rescues and shelters will be affected.
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