In a Full Council meeting on 25 October, the Council backed a motion supporting the Lucy’s Law campaign. It follows the Healthier Communities Committee Meeting on 19 September in which the committee considered and supported the campaign in principle.
Lucy’s Law is an initiative calling for an immediate ban on the sale of puppies by pet shops and other third-party commercial dealers, with a view to changing the existing legislation in Wales. The aim is to make puppies available only from rescue centres or reputable breeders where the puppies can always be seen with their mothers.
The motion backed in Full Council was proposed by Councillor Maldwyn Lewis. It was seconded by Councillor Paul Hinge.
Councillor Gareth Lloyd, Cabinet member with responsibility for Public Protection Services said, “Lucy’s Law is a major step in tackling third party sales and ensuring breeders are accountable. It is a step towards ensuring that as demand for puppies continues to grow, so does the legislative control in relation to this activity. A ban on third party sales will probably not entirely eradicate bad practice in puppy breeding but it is seen as an effective strategy to dramatically reduce the scale of the problem and compel breeders to raise standards.”
Prior to the new Dog Breeding Regulations coming into force, the Council had taken a proactive approach to dog breeding within the County by introducing far stricter licensing conditions. This was taken with a view to improving welfare standards at dog breeding establishments. The conditions were also brought into line with those in neighbouring local authorities in the interests of consistency.
Councillor Lloyd continued, “The Council will continue to act in a proactive and reactive nature in relation to regulating dog breeding establishments having regard to its complement of staff and other competing priorities. Huge progress has been made in this area of work since the introduction of revised licence conditions in 2013 and this work will continue into the future.”
01/11/2018