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<p>The Government is committed to preserving the UK’s high standards of biosecurity
and animal welfare. The EU Pet Travel Scheme requires all pets travelling to Great
Britain on approved routes to be declared. 100% of these are then subject to documentary
and identity checks. All commercial EU consignments of dogs or cats receive documentary
checks on entry and the Animal and Plant Health Agency conducts further risk based
checks away from the border. We have increased resourcing at major UK ports to detect
smuggled animals and continue to work collaboratively with Border Force, sharing intelligence
in order to disrupt illegal imports.</p><p>On 13 May this year a statutory instrument[1]
was laid in Parliament which will introduce a ban on commercial third party sales
of puppies and kittens in England. This decision followed a public consultation which
received over 6,500 responses, 96% of which supported the proposal. The ban itself
is planned to come into force on 6 April 2020 and, once in place, anyone seeking to
buy or adopt a kitten will have to deal directly with the breeder or with one of the
UK’s many animal rehoming centres. Restricting the sale of kittens to licensed breeders
has the potential to help deter people motivated to illegally import kittens for the
purpose of financial gain.</p><p>[1] <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2019/9780111186954"
target="_blank">The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England)
(Amendment) Regulations 2019</a></p>
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