Lucy’s Law: What Does It Mean for Animals?

Following years of campaigning by activists and organisations, the UK government finally announced that it’ll ban the sale of puppies and kittens by pet shops, online dealers, and other third-party sellers. Known as “Lucy’s Law”, the ban is badly needed to impose some restrictions on heartless breeders, who prey on the uninformed public.

Most people who buy dogs or cats from pet shops or breeders are unaware of the suffering that occurs behind the scenes in this cruel industry, which treats animals as money-making objects.

Many puppies for sale in pet shops or online come from puppy mills, where female dogs are forced to churn out litter after litter until their bodies are worn out. They commonly spend their entire lives in filthy cages and, because of a lack of veterinary care, are prone to illness.

So while this welcome legislation may combat some of the worst forms of abuse on puppy factory farms, it doesn’t entirely remedy the very serious animal-overpopulation crisis. So long as dogs and cats are languishing in severely crowded shelters, all breeding – whether licensed or not – is reckless and irresponsible.

For every puppy or kitten sold by a breeder, an animal in desperate need of a home loses his or her chance of being adopted. In the UK alone, it’s estimated that one homeless dog is euthanised every single hour. These dogs usually lose their lives not because they’re ill or old, not because they’re unlovable, and certainly not because they’ve done anything wrong – it’s simply that there are too many of them and too few good homes.

Adoption: The Only Compassionate Choice

Breeders selling puppies and kittens sentence animals in shelters – whose hearts are filled with the hope of finding a loving family – to death by decreasing their chances of adoption. There’s no excuse for breeding animals or supporting breeders.

While Lucy’s Law is a step in the right direction, it won’t make it illegal for people to continue exploiting animals for profit, so we urge you to take a stand against animal abuse: never buy an animal from a breeder or a pet shop. Chose to save a life by adopting – and be sure to have your new friend spayed or neutered to avoid contributing to the animal-overpopulation crisis.