Puppy trader sold trafficked dogs

A puppy trader who sold animals on Gumtree that had been trafficked from illegal breeders in Ireland has avoided jail.

Jaimie Colquhoun, 25, from Dundee, also avoided a ban on keeping animals for running the business that was likened to battery chicken farming.

She was convicted of selling animals without a licence following a trial at Forfar Sheriff Court.

Colquhoun was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work as punishment.

The court was told that Scottish SPCA investigators believed Colquhoun had "tapped into the illegal puppy trafficking world", which breeds animals "in extremely intensive regimes, much the same as battery chickens".

A probe was launched into her activities after a member of the public complained that one of the pups she sold had a virus.

Colquhoun later told investigators that a contact in Ireland would text her once a month to tell her what breeds of dog he had and she would travel by ferry to the republic to collect a litter.

She would then list breeds, such as English Bulldogs and Pugs, on Gumtree and sell the animals from the back of her car or from her home.

Colquhoun, who was first interviewed under caution by the Scottish SPCA in August 2015, acknowledged that she did not have papers for any of the animals she sold nor did she have adequate checks carried out by vets.

However, despite the interview and her admission, she went on to sell more dogs through Gumtree, meeting buyers at a Morrisons supermarket car park a few weeks later.

The trial heard that Colquhoun said some of the animals she sold had come into her possession after being transported from Hungary via a middle man in Hertfordshire.

Colquhoun was found guilty of selling animals at Pleasure Land in Arbroath and in the car park of Morrisons, Dundee, as well as "keeping a pet shop without a licence" at her home in Dundee's Dunholme Road between 1 January 2014 and 13 July 2015.

Sheriff Gregor Murray imposed a community payback order with 250 hours unpaid work and acknowledged that he could not impose an order banning Colquhoun from keeping animals because the relevant legislation was not yet in force.

He said: "You became involved in selling dogs in an unregulated fashion purely to make money.

"This forms part of a trade which, if not regulated, can cause cruelty to animals.

"Conduct such as yours encourages others to breed and supply such animals."

Following the guilty verdict, a spokesman for the Scottish SPCA said puppy trading from breeders in Ireland was big business in Scotland, with many of the animals often developing health problems.

He added: "A number of these dogs, including a malshee and morkie pup, became ill shortly after going home with their new owner. The canines Colquhoun sold were found to have had parvovirus, ear infections, kennel cough, worms and diarrhoea.

"Colquhoun had bred a few of these pups and trafficked the majority of them from the Republic of Ireland."