in terrible conditions. these dogs were found in sojtor, in hungary. they were locked in the dark, lying on their own faeces, and carcasses of other dead dogs. these illegal breeding sites are known as puppy mills. illegal breeders cram in as many dogs as possible to produce litter after litter of puppies. these puppies ultimately find their way into legal markets. in hungary, most of the operations against puppy mills are initiated by charities. edina nemedi was one of the animal rescuers involved in closing down the puppy mill in sojtor. edina now cares for some dogs she s rescued from the puppy mills across hungary.
like chihuahuas, are too small to get to them, so they didn t drink. anyone can buy as many puppies as they want here, no questions asked. british gangs have bought puppies here looking to cash in on this lucrative trade. they came here to resell those dogs in england. those englishmen, they also dealt in drugs. they bought about 20 dogs when they visited. they showed me the car and i saw that it was already full of dogs. theyjust threw ours in there. i once saw a picture of their boss. he lived in a mega huge house with three or four bentleys in the driveway. they really do have plenty of money. anthony godfroid has won civil cases against belgium shops selling sick puppies from puppy mills. they lose a lot of money because of me, because every
this is a qualified case. if you don t treat an ear infection, then it goes down and down and down, and that is animal cruelty. our world contacted pupsliu but they did not respond. the booming puppy trade in hungary is attracting traders from all over europe. some of them come to markets looking for a cheap deal. once they collect enough puppies for a shipment, they send them off legally to their clients. edina has come to kecskemet market, looking for puppy sellers. edina s concerned that puppies bred with low welfare standards are making their way into the legal international market. this registered breeder has nine dachshund puppies left and he s sold all the females to an austrian trader.
case costs them 4,000 5,000 euros, more or less. but i don t cost them enough money because they make millions. and, ok, if there are seven convictions per year, maybe it s 40,000 euro. that is not a real problem for them. jail sentences for illegally trading in dogs are extremely rare and require investigations into criminal networks across borders that few authorities are prepared to tackle. these dogs have all been rescued from illegal breeders and traffickers. but thousands are trapped in puppy mills which produce tens of thousands of puppies that are now flooding the market. there aren t enough credible breeders to meet the huge demand for puppies so, for now, the most effective way of fighting against the illegal puppy trade is to do thorough research where the puppy comes from.
every year, belgium legally imports around 19,000 puppies from eastern europe. thousands of puppies arrive at wholesale pet shops, like this one, where clients can order through click and collect. in belgium, it s legal to sell puppies in pet shops but it s illegal to source them from puppy mills. vet kirsten visited some wholesale puppy traders where she spotted illnesses commonly found in puppy mills. the director is showing her footage filmed at one of the traders she visited.