This is fast becoming a major scandal nationally with many 'puppy farms' springing up around the country. We in Cork have a major problem. Puppy Farms refer to breeders who breed their dogs indiscriminately twice a year for massive profit. Their interest in the animals is mainly financial and what they can make out of them. We have sucessfully prosecuted two such breeders in the past year. One was found guilty of cruelly treating 67 dogs by keeping them in atrocious conditions. A few of the dogs were dead and many were starving. They were being bred in boxes with no light or contact with humans. They were not allowed any exercise. This man was fined £250. We feel he should have been banned from keeping any animals and fined the maximum of £1000. A person in Dublin recently was fined £1000 with 3 months imprisonment and banned from keeping dogs for 40 years. This was well received by animal welfare organisations.

The second prosecution was against a man who kept dogs again in terrible conditions. He pleaded guilty but the judge took account of his age and asked him to knock the old buildings and build new kennels. With the profit he made from breeding this was no problem for him and he put up new kennels. However he and others like him are probably breeding dogs again for profit.

We have written to the Dept. of Agriculture along with others to ask them to bring in a Puppys Breeders Act like the one they have in Britian. Every Breeder in Britain has to have a license to breed and there are limits to the numbers of dogs allowed. We have nothing similar to that here. Anyone can set up and breed dogs. If such a law was brought in here the Dept. Inspectors could visit any place suspected and if conditions were not sufficient could shut them down.

Puppies coming from these puppy farms can have all sorts of behavioural problems. They can attack their owners for no reason. Their whole temperment changes. This can be as a result of close breeding.

However there are many excellent dog breeders who are responsible. These people are also abhorred by the whole business of puppy farms.