Breeding and Selling of Companion Animals 21 that it is being seen with its mother Dealers will use different mobile numbers and aliases for different breeds in internet adverts to give the impression that this is a small-scale operation, when all the numbers will go back to one central address In many cases the consumer is being misled into buying an animal that has had a poor quality of life and welfare By hiding poor care, such deception removes the ability of consumers to make good purchasing decisions This removes one barrier—consumer pressure— to poor breeding and sale, and thereby make it more likely puppies will be bred, transported and kept in harmful conditions It also means that consumers inadvertently purchase animals who will cost them more financially and emotionally, in ways for which they may be unprepared (for example, not having the financial resources or expertise in dog care) Consequently, the dog may be passed on or abandoned, leading to further abuse Prevalence This section focuses on how common the aforementioned harms and poor practices are It focuses broadly on two areas: breeding and importation However, whilst we know a lot about the health and welfare problems faced by puppies, to date there has been little information on where these animals are coming from, how they get to market and why prospective buyers continue to buy these animals, thereby perpetuating the trade There are no accurate figures available on the extent of the UK puppy market but estimates can be made For example, in the UK, given an estimated population of to 10 million dogs and an average life-span of 12 years, this would equate to just over 700,000 dogs needed to replace those deaths The UK Government (Defra 2012) estimated that at least 560,000 puppies were born in England The extent of the illegal trade is unknown, but a gauge can be made by taking away the numbers of puppies whose sources are known (around 500,000) from those that could be coming on to the market (between one and two million) Another way to estimate prevalence of the trade is through its value, although many measures estimate the total trade, making it hard to differentiate legal and illegal trades For example, all puppy breeding in Northern Ireland, alone, is worth £160 million pounds (BBC Scotland 2015) In England, one group of dealers, who were operating illegally (that is, without a sales license, without declaring their income, believed to be importing illegally and found guilty of animal welfare offences), were thought to be taking in £8,000 pounds per week Another group of dealers were importing up to