Major change to pet rules in crackdown on ‘illegal and immoral’ breeders

PUPPIES and kittens less than six months old will be barred from coming to Britain under a pet smuggling crackdown.

The import ban will also apply to heavily pregnant dogs and cats or those with cruel mutilations like cropped ears.

Ministers announced the measures to flush out animals being sneaked illegally into the UK by immoral breeders.

More than 320,000 pets were brought into the country last year with many suspected of being unlawfully smuggled.

New legislation seeks to close loopholes from smugglers claiming they are their pets by reducing the person-animal ratio to five per vehicle or three per foot passenger.

The minimum age of imported animals is also being raised from 15 weeks to six months to stop “long and stressful journeys” that can impact them for life.

Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Pet smuggling is an abhorrent trade which causes great suffering to animals.

“As a nation of animal lovers, and a dog lover myself, we will not accept this, which is why we are determined to fulfil our manifesto commitment and bring it to an end.”

Fellow Tory MP De Neil Hudson said Disney Pixar films such as Up and celebrity culture are normalising ear cropping in dogs.

Under the crackdown any mutilations will make animals ineligible for entry because they are associated with smuggling.