In light of an incident at this year’s Dog Expo exhibition, whereby two dogs were spotted locked in a car with the windows closed and no water, the Luxembourg Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection has issued its response.
During the Dog Expo show at Luxexpo in Kirchberg, two dogs were found to be enclosed in a car for a prolonged period, without water and with all the vehicle windows locked. In addition, the car was exposed to direct sunlight. The decision was finally made to smash the window and rescue the dogs, who were in visibly poor condition. They have likely since been moved to an animal shelter.
In response, the respective Ministry has announced that, in spite of incidents that occurred at the 2017 edition, it had granted the Luxembourg Kennel Federation (Fédération cynologique luxembourgeoise) permission to organise the Dog Expo 2018 provided that additional measures were taken.
This involved the reinforcement of the team of veterinary practitioners controlling the dogs at the entrance as to their state of health and the validity of passports.
In addition, it was requested that a control of the vehicles in the parking lot be carried out in order to verify the respect of animal welfare. A private security firm and officers from the Customs and Excise Department shared this work.
The collaboration between these various control bodies allowed the detection of several nonconformities that resulted in the refusal for some dogs to participate in the exhibition, the seizure of the aforementioned two dogs and the drawing up of a report sent to the prosecutor's office for non-respect of animal welfare.
Despite all the efforts of the organiser, the Ministry has explained that it happens that some exhibitors do not comply with the required rules and that this is why checks and reminders will continue in future editions of the Dog Expo.
