MAGISTRATES this week refused an appeal by Mrs Margaret Davis of Hagloe House Farm to continue running a dog breeding business from her premises.

Animal rights campaigners and activists turned out 'in some numbers' on Monday morning at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court where Mrs Davis failed in her bid to overturn a decision by the Forest Council Licensing Committee not to allow her to renew her permit to breed dogs at the farm in Awre Road, Blakeney.

The magistrates decided that the accommodation in which the business was carried out was 'unsuitable' for the animals, and that while the owners had been given the opportunity to upgrade the buildings, this had not been done.

Back in March, vets and the council's officials had recommended that the farm be given approval to run a dog breeding business, but this had been refused by the Licensing Committee.

In a statement about the hearing, Caroline Ruane, a Director of the Naturewatch Foundation, a lobbying organisation which supported the campaign to uphold the council's decision to refuse a licence, said: "We are delighted to report the council's decision was upheld and the breeding licence will not be renewed.

"The magistrate's decision proves the UK's inspection and licensing system does protect breeding dogs and their puppies when exercised properly.

"In March this year the Forest of Dean District Council voted unanimously not to renew the breeding licence for over 100 breeding dogs and their puppies, on the grounds that they are kept in buildings that are not fit for purpose. During the hearing it became apparent that little has changed since then and there are no concrete plans for a new building to be constructed."

She added: "Naturewatch Foundation condemns puppy farming. The people involved do not have the necessary knowledge about inherited conditions and temperament to ensure the dogs they breed are healthy."

However, one campaigner who attended the protest outside the court, but who did not wish to be named, told the Review: "The decision to uphold the refusal by the Forest Council was excellent. And the support from concerned people was inspiring – about thirty turned up, in the rain, to support the ban on Hagloe Farm running a puppy farm.

"But one question remains now, and that is what Hagloe Farm are going to do with all the dogs that they have now. The worry is that they will farm them out to other people and keep on breeding from them. A close watch will be needed to make sure they can not get back into the puppy farming business again.

"Also, Mrs Davis' legal people said that her puppy breeding business was essential because of poor profits in arable farming – but that isn't something that the rest of the farming industry are saying, which is to diversify into more profitable, but socially acceptable, areas.

"There have to be more realistic alternatives to make money from a farm than force-breeding dogs for profit."