Marc Abraham, a vet who founded PupAid and campaigned for Lucy’s law, has been successful in banning so-called puppy farms in England. The law bans the sale of kittens and puppies from third parties from April 6 2020, making buyers deal with breeders directly. Wales and Scotland are also looking to adopt the law named after a former cavalier King Charles spaniel who died in 2016 after suffering poor treatment on a puppy farm in Wales.
But Mr Abraham still fears the puppies coming to the UK from eastern Europe.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, Mr Abraham said: “I’m a vet and I was lucky to have a media profile that definitely helped with the campaigning.
“But hopefully it will inspire people across Europe.
“I was in Estonia last year very briefly and spoke to all the heads of animal veterinary associations from each country.
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“I could use that platform to inform them of all the questions that they had.
“They left feeling hopeful they’re ready to do it too.
“I’m so conscious that the supply of puppies coming in from eastern Europe which was a huge, huge problem in the UK, will definitely be hopefully stopped.
“But massively slowed down when Lucy’s law comes in.
Mr Abraham said: “When I went undercover in puppy farms, it’s basically dogs kept as agricultural animals which obviously they’re not designed to be.
“They’re kept in pens of sawdust and straw in metal-walled agricultural barns often in the dark. There have been plenty of documentaries about it.
“It’s very noisy because they’re barking all the time which obviously damages eardrums, especially for a newborn pup.
“They’re not given preventative healthcare by vets. They’re not given proper food, not given clean water.
“There are rats, there’s everything possible to compromise welfare.”