A new national and international awareness reveals the shortcomings – and possible remedies – for the protection of animals in the country
Two recent events that ended with great clamour in the newspapers were enough to raise doubts about the way animals are treated even in Czech Republic. In mid-July, a killed tiger was discovered in the zoo park of Bašť, in Central Bohemia, and at the end of January, another few hundreds of puppies were found kept in highly degraded conditions in a house in Kamenice nad Lipnou, in Vysočina.
Following repeated notifications and complaints from neighbours about the bad smell and yelping, the police searched the Kamenice home and found itself in front of a horrific spectacle. The dogs were crammed into cages and plastic boxes, malnourished and weakened by pests and infections. There are many similar cases all over the country. They are born in illegal breeding farms, the so-called Puppy Mills, “puppy factories” often set up in old abandoned stables, where the females are forced to continuous pregnancies. The reason is obviously an economic one. The Czech Republic is often referred to as one of the states of the so-called New Europe – along with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland – that feed the illegal clandestine puppy export market to Western Europe. A van can accommodate up to 250 puppies, stuffed with drugs to look healthy. According to a research conducted in 2015 by the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Abruzzo and Molise, 81.5% of dogs from abroad had infectious and transmissible diseases. The mortality is high as well, given the boundary conditions in which they are made to travel and spend the first months of life.
Following arms and drugs, animal trade is among the most profitable branches of illicit trade. Italy registers a weekly traffic of eight thousand puppies that are illegally introduced in the country, having a value of 5.6 million euros, as reported in the press during the recent months. The Lav, the Anti-Vivisection League disclosed in May 2017 the European Commission’s “Study on the welfare of dogs and cats involved in commercial practices”, that in 2014 involved twelve countries. “The puppies are bought at about 60 euros and then sold at prices up to 20 times higher, falsifying the documents, vaccinations and the European passport”, explains Ilaria Innocenti, responsible for Lav. The average figure is one thousand euros but the enthusiasts are willing to pay three times as much for some purebred puppies. The highest request is for the small ones like yorkshire, chihuahua, beagle or pincher.
Some travel with fake documents, others have the right papers but the Italian sellers and breeders replace the documentation to show the final buyers that the dog has “made in Italy” parents. On the other hand, the national laws on breeding, transport and sale are different in every State, an element the favours illegality.
The main players in this business are organized groups, often real criminal organizations that include breeders, transporters, sellers and even veterinarians. Another important sales channel is that of online scams, with false sellers paid in advance and which then disappear into thin air.
How to contain the phenomenon? The animal welfare organization Lav hopes for higher control and denounces the decrease of sequestrations. In the two-year period, 2015-2016, the Forest Department of a border region such as Friuli Venezia Giulia did not report any trafficking of puppies. In Czech Republic, attempts are being made to control the phenomenon by tightening regulations. Last year, the Senate introduced in the veterinary law the obligation to microchip all dogs six months and older and will come into force starting 2020. A measure that could have minimal results because the trade concerns only two months old puppies.
The Top 09 has recently presented a proposal, supported by six other parties, to increase penalties for those who keep animals in poor conditions only for profit. Actually, the current law does not allow punishing the puppy factories in absence of other crimes, but apply only sanctions. “Those mistreating animals cannot get away with a ridiculous sentence. It is also true for the Puppy mills’ owners”, commented the president of the Top 09 liberals, Jiří Pospíšil. “I certainly consider it a step in the right direction”, agrees Richard Brabec (Ano), minister of environmental protection.
Considering the increase of abuse cases, establishing the position of ombudsman for animals is being considered. The ombudsman would have the task to monitor the competent bodies and intervene when the authorities are delaying all action taking.
Another different case that held the court last month and gives food for thought on another change in the law that would prohibit owing “private zoos”, is the one concerning tigers. We are referring to the Bašť zoo matter, the private zoological garden in the northern part of the capital. The police carried out a search and found one of the freshly killed felines (which would have been then destined for the Vietnamese Sapa Market in Prague), a series of skins, the frozen remains of about twenty protected animals and 1.8 million crowns in cash. “We have noticed an increase in cases where we find various tiger products in the airports and in the country”, confirms Radka Nastoupilová, spokesperson for the Czech Environmental Inspectorate (ČIPŽ). Two years ago, a confiscation took place at Václav Havel airport. From “slaughtering” these felines, they obtain bouillon cubes and traditional Chinese medicine, on high demand in Asia due to its curative and miraculous properties. It is believed that the bones cure rheumatism, headaches and even cancer. On the black market, one gram of tiger bone ointment or broth is sold for 1,500 crowns. The price of the bones reaches forty thousand and the skin is ten times as much, the claws reaching around 2,500 crowns. Then there is the matter of the “tiger wine”, made with pieces of the broken bones of this majestic animal, left to macerate for years in a rice-based liqueur. It is estimated that from one kilogram of tiger bones one can obtain about 15 litres of this drink, evaluated at about 2,000 crowns. Nevertheless, it can be sold for much more if on auction.
In addition to the prepared products, the specimens killed in Europe are resold in Vietnam, Thailand and North Korea. The animal organization Four Paws launched a petition to ask the EU Commission to ban the trading of the tigers in captivity. In the Czech Republic, the scandal was imminent because the Agriculture Minister Miroslav Toman (Čssd) promised to revise a highly liberal regulation, which allows anyone to have a tiger at home. One of the ideas is that big felines should only be kept in zoos with a valid license. Twenty thousand individuals currently own animals from endangered species. Over 400 tigers have been registered in the recent years, but there are only 40 in the zoos. For the rest of them, the age of the specimens alive is quite low, a proof that the individuals or private institutions are more interested in business and profit than the protection of the species and it is underlined that for the latter reason they slipped the attention of the authorities, both in Czech Republic and Europe.
“We are indeed a power in breeding exotic animals”, says Miroslav Bobek, manager of Prague Zoo. “In addition to turtles, crocodiles and monkeys, parrots and snakes are widespread. There are capable breeders but there have also been scandals on smuggling of parrots and reptiles, nothing comparable to the case of tigers”.
The hope is that precisely this scandal would act as an accelerator of an appropriate legislative adjustment for those breeding animals in Czech Republic.
by Sabrina Salomoni