Unlicensed breeder

I dont know if I have put this in the right place , sorry if I havent ! I know of someone who keeps seven JRT`s , four are bitches for the sole purpose of breeding, one is used as a stud , one is very elderly and one is an older spayed bitch who was very ill following pregnancy and birth . This person is claiming to have registered and holds a license but she is neither , I have checked . One of her bitches had a litter 8 weeks ago and also had a litter on her previous season . She currently has another bitch who is pregnant despite suffering from a terrible infection when she had pups at just 11 months of age . She has two young bitches also , one in her first season right now and the other one just a pup but bought at 6 weeks of age, purely for breeding . Can anyone clarify if this person should be licensed please as its something I feel very strongly about and am also appalled that she claims to be licensed when she isnt ! if this makes me a busy body , then so be it, I only have the interest of the dogs at heart and have no desire to cause trouble for anyone, thank you

This makes me really sad Hope someone can advise you what to do, doesn't sound right to me...

I think it depends on the area, but down our way if you have more than 4 litters a year, you must have a breeders license.

The Breeding and Sale of Dogs Welfare Act technically requires a licence of any breeder who is breeding as a business.

In theory, therefor, anyone who breeds with the intention to profit requires a licence regardless of litter numbers however proving in court what a breeder's intentions were is a very difficult thing.

The Act therefor includes an automatic presumption of commercial activity at five litters in a year. For this reason most local authorites intrepret the Act as only applying to such breeders.

The Inland Revenue take a rather different view and one of their technical advisors told me that they would view repeated breeding as a business even if it was one litter per year. His actual words were "One litter? We'd let that slide but every year? That's a business."

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1999..._19990011_en_1

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tax-evasion/index.htm

Thanks for the replies , it seems to be a bit of a grey area . My concerns are for the dogs who are purely little money earners with scant regard for their welfare, no rest between litters etc. Thanks again

It looks like someone needs to help these poor dogs,it is so cruel they are being used to make money, so in fact a small puppy farm, as Kate says the interest and welfare of the dogs MUST come first.

Glenice.

In our area you have to be having 5 plus litters a year, and house 5 plus breeding bitches before you have to be licenced...Hmmm 4 litters a year to many in my views! BUT you could report this women, to inland revenue, local council and see what they say if you can find adverts of her advertising litters then that would be useful to send to them to.

I doubt there is anything you can do.

Yes you can do something ~ report the lady to HM Revenue & Customs & tell them she's a commercial breeder out to make a profit. You can do this anonymously on their hotline if you want ~ but if you are prepared to provide your details they are more likely to take it seriously. If she's not registered as having a dog breeding business then they may investigate. Unfortunately they may not be interested in the rights or wrongs of what she's doing, but they could make life difficult for her if there's a chance she avoiding paying tax on any profits.

The previous poster was right in that HMRC do not have any specific rules or legislation as to what constitutes a business or what could be regarded as a hobby. But if you can find any info like adverts she places in local papers, or a website that she uses to advertise puppies for sale, or her telephone (mobile?) number that can be checked against the adverts, that would all help in establishing that she's running a busines with a view to making a profit.

You could also try the RSPCA but I don't hold out much hope of action from them these days.