Concern over 'all wrong' documents discovered in Cork puppy farm case 

Judge says that 'possible skullduggery' was going on regarding dog registration

Labradors were among the animals found on site. File picture

Rabid dogs may be imported unknowingly into Ireland after anomalies in official dog registration documents were uncovered in a Cork puppy farm case, a court was warned.

Cork horseracing heiress, Anne Broderick, whose late father bred racehorse Paddy De Plasterer which won at Cheltenham, was appealing a closure order against her puppy farm, which was exporting dogs to Singapore.

Vet Dan Hutch discovered the registration document anomaly by accident when he was called to inspect dogs which had been seized from her dog breeding business in Doneraile earlier this year.

He noticed that the dogs’ date of births were "all wrong" when the dogs were moved from one microchip registration company to another. 

All the dogs were made older and being older would make the dogs easier to sell and export, he said.

Microchipping is an important way to track and control disease, raising serious concerns if records could be easily altered, he said. 

“I had to whistleblow,” Mr Hutch told the court. “The authorities have been notified. It’s serious.” 

Erroneous dog registration documents raise a concern for rabies, he said as, if registration documents can be changed, then dogs could be imported from countries where rabies is present and infected and unvaccinated dogs could be brought to Ireland.

Judge Colm Roberts said that “possible skullduggery” was going on regarding dog registration.

“But who is doing this is not clear,” he said.

It was not alleged that Ms Broderick was responsible for any altered registrations.

Ms Broderick was in Mallow District Court to appeal a closure order Cork County Council had imposed on her dog-breeding facility at The Hermitage, Doneraile, Co Cork, in January.

The closure order was issued under the Dog Breeding Establishments Act (2010) after Ms Broderick failed to comply with the terms of a Dog Breeding Establishment Order and an Animal Health and Welfare Notice.

Although Ms Broderick had a licence to breed 50 bitches, inspectors said they found more than 80, with 218 dogs and puppies in total. The dogs were in unsanitary, cramped and freezing conditions, many had no access to water or uncontaminated food bowls. Some were seen eating their own faeces, according to veterinary inspector reports.

But some of her dogs were being exported to a lucrative market in Singapore, where puppies sold for thousands of euros each – rather than hundreds on the Irish market.

Ms Broderick had spent some €86,000 acquiring the dogs, her barrister, Ray Boland Senior Counsel, said.

She was “exporting high quality dogs to Singapore” which he said the State had found no problems with.

But exports were interrupted by the pandemic, leaving her with more dogs than she had planned, Mr Boland said.

Cork County Council veterinary inspector Carol Nolan said that the inspections were “well past Covid”. She said that puppies for export are usually 16 weeks old, that the dogs on site – including huskies, Labradors and Samoyed, were older and it seemed like Ms Broderick was expanding her operation.

She also had “very popular breeds” like Cavalier King Charles spaniels, Bichon Frise, and poodles, the court heard.

Closure orders are rare, the court heard. Ms Nolan said she has only ever recommended two.

“It’s very exceptional, it’s a very serious matter,” she said.

47 dogs were seized on January 23, 2023, of which 39 were breeding bitches. Another 24 dogs, 19 of which were breeding bitches, were seized on February 1.

All dogs were taken under the care of the ISPCA.

Ms Nolan said that the dogs removed smelled of urine, some had eye lesions, a cocker spaniel bitch was underweight and faeces had dried into paws. A Cavalier bitch had alopecia on her hind limbs and neck, and multiple dogs were diagnosed with clinical conditions.

She said that the dogs' level of socialisation was poor.

Dogs were “darting around like cats” when inspectors entered the breeding pens. Many were fearful of human contact; usually sociable breeds like poodles were snapping and usually placid breeds like Labradors were “nervous”, Ms Nolan said.

She said she saw some dogs attack other dogs which was a sign of stress.

Although 18 puppies were exported to Singapore in October, 2022, that would be “a drop in the ocean” regarding overcrowding.

Ms Nolan said that the council had tried to engage with Ms Broderick and encourage her to improve the dog breeding establishment for years.

But after multiple inspections, she “reached the end of the road” and a closure notice was served.

Legally, bitches can only be bred three times in three years and six times in a lifetime. But due to a lack of records, Ms Nolan said Cork County Council could not ascertain how often the dogs were being bred.

Mr Boland noted that improvements, like the installation of some 50 heat lamps, had been made “but you decided not to check and closed down her business.” 

He said that his client had expressed “shock and upset” after being told of the closure notice and said she was doing everything in her power to fix it.

Mr Hutch said that Ms Broderick’s facility, which he visited after the closure order had been served, was “four or five star”.

He said that of the 16 dogs he saw at a veterinary clinic after they had been seized form Ms Broderick, he “didn’t see dogs in poor condition”.

Of the six dogs he inspected, he said he “didn’t find anything that alarmed me.” 

But it was noted that another vet, Mairead Wallace Piggott, who inspected the dogs at that time, noted that while some dogs had normal body condition, others were poor in weight, some had inadequate dental care and ocular discharge.

The case resumes at 10am on Tuesday.