Italy is to negotiate a crackdown on illegal puppy trafficking with 13 Eastern European countries, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Wednesday.
Announcing the launch of a special Italian task force to fight the international racket, Frattini said he would ask Eastern European countries including Hungary, Romania, Estonia and the Ukraine for ''tighter collaboration'' on veterinary and customs control in a bit to stop pedigree puppies being smuggled over borders.
Frattini also pledged to lobby European Health Commissioner Androulla Vassilliou to strengthen EU rules on identification microchips for dogs and to adopt ''rigorous protocols'' for dog breeding practices.
Italy, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden are among western European countries where traffickers sell puppies, usually falsifying documentation about their origins in order to get a higher price on the market.
Animal charities say one in four puppies die during the trip from Eastern Europe, when the animals travel in cramped conditions in the back of lorries.
According to Italian animal rights organisation LAV, the mortality rate reaches 50% a few months after the puppies reach their destination.
The puppies are routinely taken from their mothers too early and travel without vaccinations or health checks, risking the reintroduction of diseases such as distemper and rabies into countries where these have been stamped out, charities say.
Shihtzu, West Highland Terriers, Pugs and Beagles are the most trafficked breeds, with most coming from Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, according to LAV.
ITALIAN PUPPY TRADE RAKES IN 300 MILLION EUROS.
In Italy alone, the trade in trafficked puppies is worth an estimated 300 million euros a year, Welfare Undersecretary Francesca Martini said.
Puppies bought in eastern Europe for around 60 euros each can fetch up to 20 times as much on the Italian market, where traders fake documentation claiming the dogs were born in Italy, LAV said.
On the Italian market, a pedigree puppy known to come from Hungary is worth around 200 euros, while a puppy of the same breed born in Italy can fetch between 500 and 1,500 euros.
Although figures on the number of puppies being smuggled into the country each year are uncertain, a recent police operation uncovered evidence of around 70,000 puppies entering Italy illegally over the last five years.
Current concern has been fired by welfare ministry figures that show a huge drop in the number of pets being imported legally from eastern Europe - from over 20,000 in 2006 and 2007 to around 900 in the first four months of 2008.
This decrease suggests traders are increasingly opting for illegal routes into the country.
Martini said the new task force created by Italy's foreign and welfare ministries would serve as ''a great alliance to put an end to the shameful and illegal trade in puppies that, especially in light of the upcoming Christmas holidays, is registering an exponential growth''.
Frattini added that he was working with Justice Minister Angelino Alfano and Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi on making pet trafficking a specific crime in order to send ''a strong signal against this contemptible behaviour''.
In October customs police discovered 38 puppies including Cocker Spaniels, Beagles and Jack Russels packed in cardboard boxes in the back of a Renault Espace, which arrived by ferry from Greece at the southern port of Bari.
Two men were charged with animal maltreatment and the puppies, which would have fetched around 15,000 euros on the market, were transferred to a local dog home.
LAV President Gianluca Felicetti urged Italians who want a dog to take home one of the 600,000 animals currently in Italian dog homes instead of buying a puppy.
