A parliamentary event, a brand-new report and an online action – a packed week for our canine fertility clinics campaign!
The last week of October was a busy one for our canine fertility clinics campaign! Our latest report, Breeding Beyond Dog’s Limits? Canine Fertility Clinics in the UK, launched and revealed hard-hitting results from a summer survey we ran for veterinary professionals, where we asked front-line staff how they felt about the clinics.
In answer to this question, a whopping 98% of veterinary professionals said they are concerned about canine fertility clinics. This troubling finding is just one that we have released in the report and sets the tone that, as things are, these unregulated businesses are a threat to dog welfare within the UK. Our published results also reflected the findings of the British Veterinary Association who also ran a survey aimed at veterinary professionals.
Rapid growth in canine fertility clinics
The canine fertility clinic sector has been growing rapidly over the last few years, causing Naturewatch Foundation to expand its dog welfare investigations into this area in 2020. Over that time, it has become apparent that the clinics are conducting all sorts of procedures,
many of which should be conducted by vets only, which is one of the reasons that qualified veterinary professionals are so concerned. Procedures that appear to be offered within many of the clinics include: progesterone blood sampling, ultrasound scanning, artificial insemination and more, which are seemingly being carried out by lay people with varying, and sometimes minimal, amounts of training. When asked about who should be performing these procedures, the survey showed a clear consensus that the respondents felt that they are services that should not be performed by people outside of the veterinary profession.
Our new report also covers other risks associated with canine fertility clinics, such as the illegal use of veterinary medicines and connections to other forms of criminality, such as illegal puppy farming. We hope the report will provide insight into this growing area of concern!
Discussions at Westminster with APDAWG
And that wasn’t all that happened last week, as members of our campaigns team took the issue to Westminster in an event co-organised with the All-party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG). The event was chaired by Veterinarian Marc Abraham OBE and Rosie Duffield MP, with an expert panel delivering presentations on canine fertility clinics, followed by discussions that we hope will continue over the coming months.
The presentations included new research findings, discussion about potential legislative solutions, and images of some of the victims of the poor breeding practices being conducted in the clinics. Attendees saw images of dogs that were bred for aesthetics (such as colouration) which has led to many puppies being born with bad health and extreme features, as they have become more poorly conformed.
It was a well-attended event, with some canine attendees also joining the meeting. Naturewatch Foundation is very grateful for everyone that managed to join us for the event, particularly as it fell on such a busy evening in London – with the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also being appointed earlier that day!
Image caption: Presentations were given by the panel which was made up of (from left to right) Fabian Rivers, Gilly Mendes Ferreira, Rosie Duffield MP, Marc Abraham, Natalie Harney (our Campaign Manager), Catherine Stowell, Rowena Packer and Vanessa Waddon.
How you can help
Finally, we have just launched a new action about canine fertility clinics and we need as many of you as possible to get involved. Please send an email to your MP about canine fertility clinics today. If you have a few minutes to complete the action and share it with your friends and family, we would be so grateful as it will help to raise the issue as an area of concern to as many MPs as possible.
It was definitely a busy week but there remains plenty to be done and Naturewatch Foundation will continue to work towards positive change that protects UK dog welfare. But as always, thank you for your support of all our campaigns, we couldn’t do it without you! And remember, if you do choose to share anything about our action, report, or event, please use the hashtag #CanineFertilityCowboys to spread the word!
To find out more about our work on canine fertility clinics, you can visit our dedicated page.
