SwaY Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 http://www.news.com.au/national/aussie-dogs-sold-into-asian-misery/story-e6frfkvr-1226093479970 THOUSANDS of Australian-bred designer puppies are being sold to the lucrative Asian market as the internet fuels demand. Many end up in pet shops or spend their lives as breeding dogs, often in horrific conditions, animal welfare authorities say, The Advertiser reports. Commercial breeders are free to use the internet to sell dogs overseas, with no requirements to desex or microchip them first - meaning they cannot be traced once they leave Australian shores. Puppies eight weeks old - some feared even younger - are being packed in crates and transported by road and then on long, stressful overseas flights. Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Hawaii are importing significant numbers of designer pups, with labradoodles, cavoodles, spoodles and other cross-breeds seen as status symbols. Australian puppies are in demand because there are relatively few disease issues, such as rabies, so they do not have to endure long quarantines. Figures from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service show 5400 dog-export permits were granted last year, up from 4800 in 2009. The RSPCA is investigating the export market as part of its campaign against puppy farms. Most export puppies are supplied by commercial mass-breeding operations. "It is a real growth market, and smaller, designer-breed dogs are seen as a status symbol in some countries," said RSPCA manager of animal services Allie Jalbert. "They are shipped all over the world and it is a lucrative market. When we inspect puppy farms the owners often tell us they are shipping around Australia and overseas. "As Australia is a large, Western country close to Asia, we are a source to that growth market as wealth builds there. "Most are sourced from local puppy farms where there are mass breeding facilities and puppies are cranked out for profit. They are a battery farm for puppies and the facilities are poor to mediocre. `Debarking' often happens to control noise." RSPCA analysis shows pups are sent to Hong Kong, China, Japan, Indonesia and the US. Figures from Singapore's Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority show Singapore imported more than 1300 dogs from Australia last year with the number averaging 1000-2000 each year. Glenys Oogjes, of Animals Australia, said the trade had been going since the early 1990s. "Many have been going to Asia - historically Hong Kong and China," she said. Australian Veterinary Authority immediate past president Dr Mark Lawrie said there was a boom in places such as Korea and India. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandybrush Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 thats sad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Terrible, but I do know of a lady living in Hawaii that has said there are heaps of Aussie puppies sent over there, and quite a few Aussie Whippets have been sent over there as well as there is no quarantine for Australian puppies. So very sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KatrinaM Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 What about the good homes they go to? What about the good breeders that sell pups overseas? Since when is a flight internationaly any more stressful than a domestic flight? Parts of Asia are closer to Northern Australia than the Southern States? Does that mean we shouldnt send any more pups to Darwin or Cairns too? And since when did AQIS let unmicrochipped pups be exported? Poor animal welfare sucks, but why do the RSPCA need to twist the truth or out right lie in these articles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john.davey.1960 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 What about the good homes they go to? What about the good breeders that sell pups overseas? Since when is a flight internationaly any more stressful than a domestic flight? Parts of Asia are closer to Northern Australia than the Southern States? Does that mean we shouldnt send any more pups to Darwin or Cairns too? And since when did AQIS let unmicrochipped pups be exported? Poor animal welfare sucks, but why do the RSPCA need to twist the truth or out right lie in these articles? Because that is how they con people out of their dosh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumosmum Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 What about the good homes they go to? What about the good breeders that sell pups overseas? Since when is a flight internationaly any more stressful than a domestic flight? Parts of Asia are closer to Northern Australia than the Southern States? Does that mean we shouldnt send any more pups to Darwin or Cairns too? And since when did AQIS let unmicrochipped pups be exported? Poor animal welfare sucks, but why do the RSPCA need to twist the truth or out right lie in these articles? I thought the article was referring to puppy farmed dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandgrubber Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 get rid of puppy farming and this problem would go away. I exported two pups to Singapore . . . both to wealthy ex-pat businessmen who were unable to find acceptable Labradors in Asia and turned to Oz cause quarantine is to be avoided for young pups. In researching the process I found some parts of AQIS disgustingly pro-export . . . like, all foreign exchange earnings are good. Wouldn't surprise me if there were some 'regular' exporters who have set up 'efficient' mechanisms for bulk export. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 This has been known about for years. My breed the toy poodle is one of the most popular for this. Registered breeders & puppy farms bulk ship to these countries & one registered breeder actually won a government export award some years ago for exporting pups overseas. Someone I know saw about 80 tiny x breed pups being booked in at the airport in the early hours one day. Crates & crates of them, so obviously it is all well known. This all should have been dealt with years ago That is why I really don't care if anyone critisises me for desexing my pups early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumosmum Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 The bulk shipments of puppy farmed pups has gone on since the early 90s. Mostly they started the huge shipments to Hong Kong. Some days, just out of Melbourne airport, over 100 in a single day. The other main airports airports, Sydney and Brisbane were the same if not more. Pups often died on the flight. Many pups were younger than 8 weeks of age at the time, and vaccination certs were falsified. The RSPCA, Quarantine and Customs of course were well aware of it, but there was nothing done about it. The RSPCA couldn't do anything at the time, and Quarantine weren't very interested. The airlines couldn't or wouldn't do anything about it, as it was business. Very sad, and very upsetting for staff who tried to do something about it, but it all fell on deaf ears. There was and still is a lot of money involved in all of this, and I think that is the driving force behind the whole revolting business. The TV stations and the newspapers were also well aware of it, and a few articles and segments have been aired over the years, but then the whole thing just gets swept under the carpet again. With any pups that die, and there were quite a few that I knew about years ago, nobody owned them as pets, they were just merchandise, and the shippers and transport agents couldn't care less. Puppy farmers, and the large dog transport company...........it's all just business! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 this is a practice that should be stopped somehow, so wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shazzapug Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 If anyone has ever lived in an Asian country, as I have, you would not send a puppy to that country, period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Out of interest, one of my dogs papers states not for export. Could you do this for all your pups, but then take that stipulation off if you decide to export a puppy to a legitimate buyer down the track, or is it with the pup for life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Out of interest, one of my dogs papers states not for export. Could you do this for all your pups, but then take that stipulation off if you decide to export a puppy to a legitimate buyer down the track, or is it with the pup for life? Don't know but do know that for most of the dogs that are sent they are not bothered about a registered pedigree. Many are small cross breeds, they want the small size more than a pedigree & for the pedigree dogs they may accept a computer copy of pedigree. Most of these dogs are not going to be used for show/breeding like we do it here & register puppies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christina Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 (edited) Out of interest, one of my dogs papers states not for export. Could you do this for all your pups, but then take that stipulation off if you decide to export a puppy to a legitimate buyer down the track, or is it with the pup for life? Whoops double post Edited July 16, 2011 by Christina Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 16, 2011 Share Posted July 16, 2011 Out of interest, one of my dogs papers states not for export. Could you do this for all your pups, but then take that stipulation off if you decide to export a puppy to a legitimate buyer down the track, or is it with the pup for life? When your papers are marked not for export all that means is that you can't send it overseas and get an ANKC export certificate transferring ownership of the animal onto the ANKC pedigree system. If you want to take it overseas or sell it to someone else overseas no one can stop you and you never have to tell aqis any onfo re pedigrees etc In other words all it stops is someone being able to take the dog overseas and having it accepted on some registries for showing or breeding. There are many overseas registries which accept limited register papers without a ANKC transfer straight onto their registry which allows them to show or breed registered puppies or breed cross bred or unregistered puppies. The breeder of the dog cannot dictate into the future what an owner will do with their property and the ANKC can only control what happens with their paperwork one of the main reasons that desexing contracts etc are not worth the paper they are written on. The MDBA was advised by the RSPCA that the export figures were not very high last July and based on the figures and knowing that many are being exported as loving pets its difficult to see that its something they should be saying this about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Figures from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service show 5400 dog-export permits were granted last year, up from 4800 in 2009. At a guess Id say it will come down now our dollar is up and I havent done the figures but surely Australia wide just in what we export to other countries for breeding and or pets travelling to crufts etc and the ones that travel with their owners legitmately it has to be half that figure - then there is what McDougall Hawaii takes - last time I looked about 2000 a year. If these figures are true Id be interested in them comparing figures about 15 years ago when our dollar was down and figures quoted were much higher. Puppies cant get out of Australia unless they are chipped and vet checked by a certified aqis vet and there are very hard regs and laws in place to fly live animals on any airline leaving this country.How big the crate is, how many animals per crate, etc etc are all regulated - its not like they travel like cattle or sheep. I object to animals being sold including in litter lots to any pet shop whether it be here or in Hawaii but when you start getting into telling me that they are shipped too young or in poor conditions, un chipped or not vet checked I dont see how our systems allow that to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 (edited) I object to animals being sold including in litter lots to any pet shop whether it be here or in Hawaii but when you start getting into telling me that they are shipped too young or in poor conditions, un chipped or not vet checked I dont see how our systems allow that to happen Steve I really hope you are right, but I am afraid it has been proven often that there are always loop holes people can go through and money always talks, even if only to a degree, so I am as always cynical that everything is totally above board. And yep I understand regarding the papers and didn't know that some places would accept dogs onto their registry without proper paperwork, afterall the dogs could be a totally different breeding from what it's "papers" show so therefore the resultant "registered " puppies would most likely not even be from the parents they are documented as being from. Totally shonky! Edited July 17, 2011 by OSoSwift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bisart Dobes Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 I know someone who worked for a couple of the animal transport companies - these 'shippers' move hundreds & hundreds of puppies OS each week in litter lots / breed lots. It is commercial and it is business - $$$ - thats about it. The bad thing is that the puppy farmers / mass shippers turn it into a mess for ANKC Breeders to export puppies / dogs OS. & I know there are ANKC registered breeders who are a part of this whole thing as well - sadly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 To be honest nothing suprises me, expecially when money is involved! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumosmum Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Figures from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service show 5400 dog-export permits were granted last year, up from 4800 in 2009. At a guess Id say it will come down now our dollar is up and I havent done the figures but surely Australia wide just in what we export to other countries for breeding and or pets travelling to crufts etc and the ones that travel with their owners legitmately it has to be half that figure - then there is what McDougall Hawaii takes - last time I looked about 2000 a year. If these figures are true Id be interested in them comparing figures about 15 years ago when our dollar was down and figures quoted were much higher. Puppies cant get out of Australia unless they are chipped and vet checked by a certified aqis vet and there are very hard regs and laws in place to fly live animals on any airline leaving this country.How big the crate is, how many animals per crate, etc etc are all regulated - its not like they travel like cattle or sheep. I object to animals being sold including in litter lots to any pet shop whether it be here or in Hawaii but when you start getting into telling me that they are shipped too young or in poor conditions, un chipped or not vet checked I dont see how our systems allow that to happen. Steve, can you please show me where to find these figures. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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