A south Bucks animal charity has urged people to join its campaign to scrap the puppy trade after a family was left heartbroken when their two pet puppies died just days after being bought from a rogue puppy dealer.
Yesterday the Bucks Free Press reported the story of a family who bought two Labrador collie cross puppies within just a few days of each other after spotting an advert on sales website Pets4Home earlier this month.
The seller insisted the puppies had had their jabs but both died from the deadly and contagious Parvovirus just days after their purchase.
The South Bucks RSPCA has now urged all animal lovers to join its campaign urging the government to “scrap the puppy trade” and introduce the “Puppy Dealers Act” to put a stop to unscrupulous puppy dealing.
Please help prevent stories like these, sign the petition #ScrapThePuppyTrade : https://t.co/DcS9WwAXRX https://t.co/ace5o0tLyb
— RSPCA South Bucks (@RSPCASouthBucks) September 26, 2016
A statement on the charity’s website says: “The RSPCA believes that huge numbers of sick, under-age and dying puppies are being illegally trafficked into the UK each year.
“These puppies have had a very unpleasant start to life. Many are born on puppy farms across Europe, their mothers used as breeding machines to keep up with the high demand for puppies in the UK.
“Bought in bulk by dealers looking for the highest profit margin. In many cases the puppies are too young to be away from their mothers when they are loaded onto vans like cargo before travelling hundreds of miles. Just imagine for a second how frightening that would be.”
Bucks Free Press readers, who have used the website Pets4Home to purchase their pets, have issued advise to other potential buyers before they buy their puppies online.
One commenter La Reina de la Verdad said: “This is a very said story and my heart goes out to the family involved.
“We have purchased both our pets from Pets4Homes breeders. Before we contacted any of the breeders we read the extensive advice list published by Pets4Homes which is concurrent with the advice of vets and freely available from the web.
“This advice states very clearly that you check out the breeder before you meet them. You always see the mother with the puppies.”
For more information on the RSPCA campaign click here.
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