Pembrokeshire County Council has won a national RSPCA award for its pioneering work in combating rogue puppy farms.
The Council was crowned winner of the Wales Local Authority Innovator award in this year’s RSPCA Community Animal Welfare Footprints scheme.
Principal officer Nigel Watts, accepted the award from Welsh Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones on behalf of the Public Protection Division’s animal welfare team.
The award was presented at the Companion Animal Welfare Conference in Cardiff earlier this month.
The animal charity praised the Council’s animal welfare team for its work in raising the welfare standards of licensed dog breeding and for cracking down on rogue puppy farms in what the charity described as the “puppy farming centre of the UK.”
The animal welfare team has used funding available from the Welsh Assembly Government to produce a report recommending how dog breeding can be improved in Wales.
The report includes a Best Practice Guide for other authorities to follow, and has been endorsed by LACORS (the national body which coordinates regulatory services for local authorities) for England and Wales.
Councillor Ken Rowlands, Cabinet Member for Environmental and Regulatory Services, said he was delighted that the Council’s animal welfare team had received the award.
“Although the image of Wales has traditionally been poor for dog breeding this Council is committed to improving the conditions in which dogs are kept and we are determined that only the best practices should be followed,” he said.
Photograph: Nigel Watts is presented with the award by Elin Jones.
