A BAN on puppies being sold by dealers and other third parties has been unanimously backed by councillors in Carmarthenshire.

The motion to support a national campaign called Lucy’s Law — named after an abused spaniel farmed for her puppies — was brought to full council by Cllr Tina Higgins.

She described the suffering experienced by Lucy, who has now been re-homed from the Welsh puppy farm where she lived, and said: “Unfortunately Lucy’s story is not uncommon. She was kept in a cage until she could not have any more puppies.”

Cllr Higgins said the RSPCA was among the organisations which backed Lucy’s Law.

She said up to 80,000 puppies were sold by third parties annually, including at “puppy superstores”.

Cllr Higgins said the puppy-buying public often didn’t know they were dealing with a middleman, and that the current system allowed unscrupulous breeders to avoid checks from the authorities.

“Lucy’s Law will ensure all breeders are accountable — making it a major step to tackling puppy farm cruelty,” she said.

She asked the council to proactively promote the campaign and write to the UK and Welsh Governments to seek “urgent action”.

Councillor Alun Lenny said: “I think West Wales is one of the biggest areas in the UK where the dogs are bred — many of them are suitable, but others are not really keeping animals in good condition.”

Cllr Lenny said the UK Government had agreed around three weeks ago to bring in a ban in line with

Cllr Phillip Hughes added that the council would like to have closer links with other authorities in Wales to carry out relevant checks, without it being too time-consuming. Unlicensed dealers, he said, did not leave paper trails.

“If Lucy’s Law is successful, these operators will be outlawed,” he said.