The puppies were trapped in their own excrement: Customs stopped an illegal dog transport at the FTO.
It's booming because of Corona.
Markt Schwaben - Evelyn Bauer, chairwoman of the animal protection association Ebersberg, has already seen many animals in a pitiful condition and taken them to the animal shelter.
What customs officials discovered on Saturday morning and showed farmers was new and incomprehensible even to them: three puppies (around seven weeks old) wrapped up to their tummies in plastic bags.
Full of urine and feces.
She and two medium-sized Labrador mixes (around five months old, Bauer estimates) were hidden in a van that was full of furniture and junk.
An illegal animal transport.
Customs had stopped and checked the vehicle on the East Airport Tangent (FTO) near Markt Schwaben.
The car came from Romania, reports Bauer: "The destination would have been the Netherlands."
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The Labrador hybrids were locked in cat boxes.
© Tierschutzverein Ebersberg
How many hours the animals had to stay in the transporter is unclear.
According to the chairman of the animal welfare association, the puppies and the two Labrador mixes are “not in good condition”.
The two medium-sized dogs were each crammed into a cat carrier.
“They couldn't move a millimeter.” All of this without water and feed, adds Evelyn Bauer.
The boxes should have been broken open so that the dogs could be freed.
Repeated case of illegal animal transport
As early as December, customs at the FTO discovered another illegal dog transport, at that time it was a dog that came to the animal shelter, reports the chairwoman.
She appeals to the population: “Please do not order puppies from Eastern Europe over the Internet!
We don't know how the dogs lived in their country of origin, but what we do know: The transport conditions for these poor creatures are inhumane. "
Please do not order puppies from Eastern Europe over the Internet!
Evelyn Bauer, Chair of the Ebersberg Animal Welfare Association
When Evelyn Bauer picked up the five dogs together with the veterinary office on Saturday, a customs officer told her that the number of illegal dog transports had increased by around 20 percent since the corona pandemic.
Every fourth vehicle from Romania has puppies on board.
“And these are only the vehicles that are checked,” says Bauer.
How large the number of unreported cases is, in other words: how many illegal animal transports are not discovered, nobody knows.
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The puppies were tied in plastic bags up to their tummies.
© Tierschutzverein Ebersberg
In the corona pandemic, the desire for a pet has increased - in these times of contact restrictions, people long for animal company.
Many try their luck on the Internet.
The German Animal Welfare Association writes on its website: “Anyone who buys an animal online often supports the illegal puppy trade - even without knowing it.
This is experiencing an upswing due to the Corona crisis.
The German Animal Welfare Association receives calls almost every day from people who have bought dogs online and only find out afterwards that they have neither a sales contract nor papers or that the puppy is sick.
The animal shelters are acutely struggling with the dramatic consequences, for example when sick puppies that are too young are confiscated, given away or abandoned. "
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Two of the freed puppies.
All three puppies are now in the Ebersberg animal shelter.
© Tierschutzverein Ebersberg
Because the dog places in the Ebersberg animal rescue station are currently occupied, the Munich animal shelter has taken in the two mixed Labrador dogs, reports Evelyn Bauer.
The three puppies are in rabies quarantine at the Ebersberg animal shelter.
"Until about mid-April," says the chairwoman.
Then they can be released for mediation.
With a view to Corona, Bauer asks you to think twice about whether you want to get a dog or a cat now.
Because: "At some point the pandemic will be over, people will go back to work - what about the animals then?"
