Measures againt puppy trafficking get support of the European Parliament's Environment Committee
Last week, the European Parliament's environment committee almost unanimously approved proposals to better tackle the illegal puppy trade in Europe. The environment committee wants improved registration of pets, which makes it easier to trace breeders, traders, and owners, even if pets have been brought to another EU country.
Anja Hazekamp, MEP for the Party for the Animals, argues in the European Parliament's environment committee for a stronger approach to illegal trade in pets.
"Proper registration of pets is an important step in the fight against illegal puppy trade. In addition, it is easier to address animal abuse if reliable data about traders, breeders, and owners is linked to a pet," said Party for the Animals MEP Anja Hazekamp, who helped write the proposals. At the initiative of Hazekamp, the adopted resolution also refers to the mistreatment of stray dogs and galgos in Europe.
A proposal from the Party for the Animals to register all cats and dogs in Europe as standard practice - in the Netherlands registration is already required for all dogs - was also adopted. Currently, the European obligation to register pets only applies to animals that are taken to another country. In addition, registration is not done in the same way in every country, which encourages fraud and causes problems when retrieving information about pets.
Other measures proposed in the resolution include mandatory registration of all EU breeders and traders and setting minimum animal welfare requirements, tougher penalties for illegal trafficking in pets and for falsifying (data on) pet passports, and more frequent checks by customs and police, among others, for illegal trade.
The entire European Parliament will vote on the above proposals in February. If the European Parliament adopts the proposals, the Party for the Animals is already delivering on one of its European election promises from the 2019 Animal Politics EU Manifesto (drawn up together with 11 European sister parties).