Abstract
Organised crime groups’ involvement in illicit markets is a common focus of law enforcement and governments. Drug, weapon, human and wildlife trafficking (and others) are all illegal activities with link to organised crime. This paper explores the overlooked illicit market of puppies. We detail the state of knowledge about the organisation of the UK puppy trade, which includes irresponsible and illegal breeding of puppies throughout Europe and their often-illegal movement into the UK. In 2017, we conducted an analysis of hundreds of online advertisements in Scotland, 12 expert interviews, a stakeholder survey of 53 participants, and 40 focus groups across Great Britain. Our data suggest an organised illicit market running in parallel to the legal trade. We speculate as to whether at some point along the supply chain organised crime groups are responsible for the suffering and death of the puppies and the economic and emotional damage to ‘consumers’. Online monitoring and physical scrutiny at the ports must be improved to reduce non-human animal abuse. People buying puppies must also be made aware that their purchase could be profiting organised crime.
Highlights
The pet trade is a lucrative commercial enterprise which involves moving thousands of species and millions of individual non-human animals1 across the globe
Aspects of the better-known and larger illegal wildlife trade are facilitated by organised crime and the organised crime aspect is increasingly the focus of national and international regulation and enforcement (Arroyo-Quiroz and Wyatt 2019; UNODC 2020; Wyatt et al 2020)
This paper explores the emerging lucrative illicit market of puppies, which is largely overlooked in academic literature
Summary
The pet trade is a lucrative commercial enterprise which involves moving thousands of species and millions of individual non-human animals across the globe. According to a Council of Europe report, half of European households own a pet of some kind, estimated to include almost 7000 different species. Aspects of the better-known and larger illegal wildlife trade are facilitated by organised crime and the organised crime aspect is increasingly the focus of national and international regulation and enforcement (Arroyo-Quiroz and Wyatt 2019; UNODC 2020; Wyatt et al 2020). While the illegal wildlife trade, including the trafficking of exotic pets and the potential role of organised crime, has been the focus of a significant amount of research in the last decade (see Arroyo-Quiroz and Wyatt (2019), Collard (2020), Sollund (2019), Van Uhm (2016), Wyatt et al (2017a), Maher and Sollund (2016), among others), the trafficking of ‘domestic’ companion animals has received little attention
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