Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of dogs and puppies that were illegally imported in 2019; and from which countries those dogs and puppies were illegally imported.

The attached Annex contains the number of dogs landed in Great Britain which did not meet the import requirements and therefore required quarantine in 2019.

The definition of ‘illegally landed’ does not necessarily mean the animal was smuggled into Great Britain. Our definition of an illegal landing is any dog that is landed in Great Britain which does not meet the import requirements and therefore requires quarantine under the Rabies Importation Order. While these figures may include some smuggled animals, it also includes:

• pet animals that arrive at UK airports and during the pets check are found to be non-compliant

• animals that are found ‘inland’ and after a trading standards investigation are found to be non-compliant

The attached data will include animals imported under the Pet Travel Scheme and the commercial import (Balai) requirements.