Star date: 18th February 2017

FLOWERS, SPEECHES AND WREATHS FOR PUPPY FARM VICTIMS

Today, there were two protests against puppy farming, the first in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, and later outside the Dogs4Us store on Agecroft Road in Salford. Both saw a peaceful candlelit vigil with flowers, speeches, a minute's silence and a wreath laying ceremony in honour of all victims of the puppy farm trade.

Student, Scarlett Meredith, attended the protest outside the Dogs4Us store, saying "I think it's absolutely ridiculous that it's still up and running. It should definitely be shut down."

Full details here...

Flowers, candles and wreaths decorated the pavements of both Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester and Agecroft Road in Salford today, as the Boycott Dogs4Us campaign held two peaceful vigils in honour of all the canine victims of the puppy farm trade.

Over forty people attended the Manchester protest, where messages were read out from TV Vet and founder of Pup Aid, Marc Abraham, Lisa Garner, guardian of Lucy, the famous campaigning dog who recently passed away*, and Linda Goodman, founder of anti puppy farm campaign group, CARIAD.

"Never before has the subject of puppy farming been so talked about; in the national news, local news, online" explained Marc Abraham, adding that "the first step in ending puppy farming is to ban third party sales - that's basically pups sold away from their mums - from pet shops, garden centres, private individuals advertising online posing as breeders, etc."

Aran Mathai, founder of Boycott Dogs4Us, said; "The sale of puppies in pet shops and through other third-parties allows the true source of puppies to be hidden from the end purchaser. The source of these puppies is invariably puppy farms, large commercial breeders with exceptionally poor animal welfare standards.

"Manchester and Salford Council have the legal power to prevent pet shops and third-party dealers in Manchester and Salford from selling puppies" he added "and we call on them to do so."

Joining the Salford protest was Scarlett Meredith... "I've grown up with animals in my family and always loved them" she said "The fight against cruelty to animals is so important, so when I saw this was happening I came down."

Scarlett added that she's originally from Leeds, where Dogs4Us also has a store and is the subject of protests... "I've heard about bad things there too" she explained "I think it's absolutely ridiculous that it's still up and running. It should definitely be shut down."

Boycott Dogs4Us has recently set up a change.org petition calling on Salford and Leeds Councils to close Dogs4Us and end the sale of puppies in pet shops in their areas. It already has over 11,000 signatures.

To sign the petition click here

*For more details on Lucy and the background to the Boycott Dogs4Us Campiagn see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here