Haven't been on here for a few days so just seen this.
This is a trade in misery and what I find really puzzling is that the law in this country encourage its continuation.
I was in a shopping area in Enfield a couple of years ago with my daughter when we popped into a small privately owned pet shop. We were horrified to see puppies and kittens in cages (several to a cage). The shop was pretty small and the cages were all on one side piled up on top of one another.
Whilst the cages were clean and the animal looked lively enough, all the animal were tiny and the noise level was horrendous. All the puppies were yapping and the kittens were clearly terrified.
As it happened there was a young woman from the RSPCA in the car park and we asked her about the shop and who we could report the situation to. She told us that shops are licensed to sell animals by the local council and they (the council) decide, with advice from the animal welfare organisations, what is an acceptable standard of care.
I phoned Enfield council to make a complaint about this shop and was told that the shop had been inspected and Enfield council was happy that the animals in the shop were being housed and sold in what Enfield council considered acceptable conditions.
It's not just about the backstreet breeders plying their nasty trade to unwary pet buyers. They're also being encouraged to continue breeding these animals by the authorities we pay our council tax to.
Why are local councils giving licences to shops to sell the products of this horrible industry.
This admittedly were a couple of years ago, but I'm assuming nothing's changed.