Hungary is an illegal dog-breeding powerhouse
Hungary is an important player in the international network of dog breeding and illegal dog trade. We are known abroad as a major dog breeding power. Passports issued by veterinarians play a key role in the trade in dogs bred under cruel conditions for export.
Animal abuse, illegal business
Passports issued by veterinarians, without which the animals would not be allowed to travel abroad, play a key role in the trade in breeding dogs for export. Unfortunately, this world has not shortage of brutal animal abuse and cruel conditions.
As a Telex documentary revealed, according to veterinarian Dr. Dalma Kárpáti and lawyer Dr. Cecília Kajó, there are veterinarians in Hungary who are involved in the papering, documentation of the animal cruelty business. They issue passports with fictitious dates of birth without having seen the animals. This is how traffickers are able to take puppies out of the country who are not even old enough to travel under the current laws.
“The smaller and cuter it is, the sooner people take it from the petshops,” veterinarian Dr. Gabriella Markus in the documentarty, explaining that this is the reason why breeding dog dealers do not wait until the animals are 15 weeks old, after which they can be legally exported. The expert also pointed out that this practice is not only an attack on the animal, but also constitutes private and public fraud.
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Profitable business
Blank passports may only be ordered from the Hungarian Chamber of Veterinary Surgeons (MÁOK) by veterinarians who are members of the Chamber, provide veterinary services in accordance with the legal requirements and undertake to keep a strictly numbered record of the animal passports and to regularly record the required data in the Chamber’s records, Telex writes.
In recent years, the main source of income of MÁOK Kft. (the Chamber’s wholly-owned company) has been the empty pet passports. These documents have been purchased at a net price of HUF 400-600 (EUR 1.02-1.53) and made available to veterinarians at a net price of HUF 2,100-2,400 (EUR 5.35-6.12) since 2020.
Huge income, no control of passports issued
In 2020, MÁOK Kft. sold a total of 108 959 blank passports to veterinarians at a net price of HUF 2126 (EUR 5.42), and in 2021, it sold a total of 109 578 blank passports at a net price of HUF 2205 (EUR 5.62). The company thus received a net inflow of HUF 231 million (EUR 0.59 million) two years ago and HUF 241 million (EUR 0.61 million) last year.
As regards the control of passport-issuing practices by veterinarians, the Chamber of Veterinary Surgeons monitors the obligations to record, report or register data, but does not control the circumstances under which passports are issued.
The Telex documentary
You can watch the documentary below with English subtitles:
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Source: Telex.hu
The key factor for the issuance of the passport is the health of the dog. Then the age of the dog should not be less than 15 weeks when the dog would have been vaccinated against infectious diseases such as rabbies. There is no way Hungary, well known for high veterinary standards will tolerate lapses.