ISPCA chief says dog sperm being bought and sold for ‘thousands of euro’

The inhumane practice of cropping dogs’ ears is on the rise, the chief inspector with the Irish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) has said.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Conor Dowling said canine sperm was being bought and sold for “thousands of euro” in the State at present.

“I also know that canine fertility clinics are being established, sometimes by individuals with no veterinary training or expertise,” he said, adding that oversight and regulation of these was needed.

He said the ISPCA only had suspicions about what procedures were on offer and called for such establishments to be subjected to routine checks rather than gardaí having to obtain search warrants to enter.

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Mr Dowling said the ISPCA was seeing lower rates of tail-docking, with long-tailed Jack Russells and Dobermans more common nowadays. However, he said ear-cropping was becoming more prevalent, especially with the rising popularity of the American Bully breed.

He said the procedure is being performed in Ireland, but some people are importing passports and microchips to make it seem like these dogs have been imported from a country where ear-cropping is legal.

There is a danger that these dogs will not receive veterinary care after the procedure due to concerns that the owner is reported, he added.

Microchipping

Conor Brennan of Dogs Trust said there were also issues with microchipping, with the information collected on them often incomplete or inaccurate to hide unscrupulous breeding practices.

He said there were four microchipping databases in Ireland but no centralised system for rescue centres to search, meaning that reuniting dogs with their owners could be difficult.

The Dog Breeding Establishment Act was also discussed at the committee. Sarah Lynch, policy manager with Dogs Trust, said the guidelines recommend one staff member to every 25 breeding bitches, but she did not believe this would be enough to ensure dog welfare.

“In practical terms workers must fulfil a thorough sanitisation programme for every one of the 25 dogs as well as the number of puppies born to them, which could result in as many as 150 dogs under the care of one individual staff member during full-time working hours.”

Issues around mechanisation and non-human supervision were also raised, with Mr Brennan saying dogs need human interaction and warning against automated feeding and cleaning.