Tory peer criticises ‘fatuous actresses’ who buy dogs with health conditions

A peer has criticised “fatuous actresses” and “bubble-headed” actors who buy dogs bred with debilitating health conditions, calling on the Government to take action.

Tory shadow environment minister Lord Blencathra hit out at famous people making it popular to buy puppies bred with “cruel and debilitating diseases”, including flattened faces, which lead to breathing problems.

He issued an appeal to the Government to “stamp out” the problem.

Speaking during a debate in the House of Lords, he said: “Animal welfare must not suffer because fatuous and inconsequential actresses want a cute little designer dog to fit into their Gucci handbag, and that goes for equally bubble-headed male actors as well.

“The point here is not that I’m seeking to stop animals from ever contracting assorted diseases, which happen in nature, but to stop breeders deliberately breeding animals they know from the blood stock will inevitably have those cruel and debilitating diseases.”

He also highlighted that while the cropping of dogs’ ears is illegal in the UK, kits are still available online, saying they cause “suffering for no good reason” and criticised cat owners who get their pets de-clawed, saying “don’t buy a cat in the first place if you don’t like its natural behaviour”.

Lord Blencathra was speaking in the House of Lords during a debate on an Animal Welfare Bill, currently making its way through Parliament.

The legislation, put forward by Liberal Democrat MP Dr Danny Chambers, aims to reduce the number of animals for non-commercial entry into the UK, ban the import of puppies and kittens under six months old or heavily pregnant dogs and cats, and introduce a halt on the import of dogs and cats that have been “mutilated”, including having their ears docked.

The Bill passed its second reading in the House of Lords on Friday.

Lord Blencathra accepted that the Bill before them, for which he gave his “full support”, was not the place to address some of the issues he raised.

He added: “Figures show that in 2023, 500 cases of illegal cat and dog importers were intercepted at Dover and that’s just one port out of many.

“It’s just the tip of a very large iceberg of animal cruelty as racketeers make money from this inhumane trade.”

He opened his speech by showing the chamber a campaign T-shirt he had worn in the 1990s for preventing rabies entering the UK, joking that “if you hang on to something for 30 years, it may have relevance one day”.

Lord Trees, a veterinary surgeon who brought the Bill before the Lords, said the Bill can help tackle the illegal pet trade, “which causes substantial welfare harm to our most popular pets”.

He said there was insufficient UK supply of puppies to maintain the current dog population, with some of the current demand being met through illegal imports.

“It’s become apparent that unscrupulous pet traders are exploiting loopholes in our pet travel rules, and often these illegally imported animals have been raised in poor conditions abroad, transported for many hours in bad conditions, and have arrived at their destinations not in the best of health.”

The Bill, which has already cleared the Commons, will be further considered by peers at a later date.