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tv   Our World  BBC News  March 4, 2023 9:30pm-10:01pm GMT

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this is bbc news, the headlines... russian and ukrainian forces are fighting in the streets of bakhmut but russia does not control the city, its deputy mayor has said. 4,000 civilians are living in shelters without access to electricity or water. the united nations and iran reach an agreement that would allow un officials to carry out further inspections of tehran�*s nuclear programme following talks between iranian officials and the head of the un nuclear watchdog. the uk government's former health secretary matt hancock and his staff agonised for hours over whether or not he broke covid guidance when he kissed his aide, leaked messages published in the daily telegraph newspaper show.
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in a new interview, prince harry describes feeling "different" to the rest of the royal family and says by writing his book to share his story and feelings, he hopes it may help others. at ten o'clock we will be here with a full round—up of the day's news. first, 0urworld: inside the illegal puppy trade. chloe, would we like to be in a video about how much i love you? and you, bambi? dogs have never been more popular. in the uk, we bought 3.2 million pets during lockdown. in europe, puppies are now a multibillion euro industry. but where are all these puppies coming from?
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for the first time, our world unveils a criminal underworld of puppy traders trafficking dogs across europe. they came here to resell those dogs in england. those englishmen, they also dealt in drugs. the criminals are breeding dogs in unlicensed puppy mills in hungary. these dogs suffer abuse and neglect. the dogs are sold into a vast pet trade network in western europe that handles 8 million puppies a year. many are illegally passed off as the offspring of a much—loved family pet. hungary has emerged as a dog
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breeding power in europe. in the last two years, it's legally exported over 70,000 puppies within the eu. a huge network of puppy farms grew up here after the collapse of the soviet union. the system changed. the state farms and co—operative farms were privatised. so, people stopped working with cows, stopped working with swine and the italian tradesmen came into hungary and saw a big business, and they started to build up a network of puppy producers here in hungary, and then the people, step—by—step, realised that they can make money on dogs instead of keeping swine and rabbits, and they put these animals in the place of the swine and poultry and rabbit. the industry is controlled
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by the government through licensing and farms are expected to conform to animal welfare standards but anyone can register online to be a breeder without any initial checks. this is puspokladany. this town ofjust 16,000 people has 154 registered breeders. the nebih is the government agency charged with carrying out random checks of hungary's nearly 3,000 breeders. our world has joined them today on one of their inspections lead by chief vet dr attila boncz. but this breeder has passed the inspection. the vet in charge says they don't have anything to report to us. but some audio between nebih inspectors, captured minutes earlier, reveals some findings.
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they conclude this farm follows the regulations and remains legal. nebih says they had a private exchange of opinions, and their views should not be linked to the authority's findings. puppy farming is good business. a buyer in western europe will pay a minimum of 1000 euros per puppy — the average monthly wage in hungary. this has attracted criminals who breed dogs in terrible conditions.
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these dogs were found in sojtor, in hungary. they were locked in the dark, lying on their own faeces, and carcasses of other dead dogs. these illegal breeding sites are known as puppy mills. illegal breeders cram in as many dogs as possible to produce litter after litter of puppies. these puppies ultimately find their way into legal markets. in hungary, most of the operations against puppy mills are initiated by charities. edina nemedi was one of the animal rescuers involved in closing down the puppy mill in sojtor. edina now cares for some dogs she's
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rescued from the puppy mills across hungary. the recent discoveries of the farm's conditions has led to international pressure for hungary to tighten their laws. convicted puppy mill owners now face jail. in puspokladany, the nebih have had a tipoff about
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an illegal puppy mill. there's a bad smell coming from the insides and nobody is looking after the dogs. after several hours of waiting, the owner turns up. in 2020, pupsliu was one of the main exporters of hungarian puppies, sending nearly 4,000 dogs to belgium, a huge puppy market in europe. after the inspection, the nebih has found more than ten dogs with ear, skin, and eye infections. hungarian law states that if conditions lead to long—term health damage or death then the site is defined as a puppy mill. the nebih decides that that's not the case in this instance and they will only impose a fine and inspect again in the near future. but the decision is contentious.
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this is a qualified case. if you don't treat an ear infection, then it goes down and down and down, and that is animal cruelty. our world contacted pupsliu but they did not respond. the booming puppy trade in hungary is attracting traders from all over europe. some of them come to markets looking for a cheap deal. once they collect enough puppies for a shipment, they send them off legally to their clients. edina has come to kecskemet market, looking for puppy sellers. edina's concerned that puppies bred with low welfare standards are making their way into the legal international market. this registered breeder has nine dachshund puppies left and he's sold all the females
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to an austrian trader. he's charging 100 euros a puppy. edina is going to buy one to check its credentials. hey, aw. to sell puppies legally, they must be at least eight weeks old, fully vaccinated, microchipped and registered by a vet on a national database. but a few simple checks reveal the truth. it's likely this puppy has not been vaccinated.
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in order to travel legally outside the country, puppies need a pet passport with valid vaccinations and these can only be issued by a vet. corrupt vets sell pet passports to puppy mills owners without vaccinating or even seeing the puppies. this puppy is lucky. edina will give him up for adoption to a good home. those puppies left might face a gruelling journey to markets in the west where they can be sold for anything up to 3,000 euros each. the most lucrative markets are in belgium and the uk, a journey of over 1,000 miles. thousands of puppies are smuggled through borders hidden in vehicles. most pass through germany on their route west.
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german police mount regular patrols looking for puppy smugglers. in 2021, they seized nearly 2,000 puppies being smuggled across the country. in the same year, the uk saw a 260% increase in puppy smuggling. in response, it's proposed to ban the import of dogs under six months old. but that would not always deter the smugglers. this car and van travelling in convoy were stopped by german police. inside they found eight adult dachshunds split between the two vehicles. the dogs were being transported from hungary to the uk, from hungary to the uk in terrible conditions. the shipment was also bigger than it initially looked.
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four of the dogs were heavily pregnant. at the shelter, they gave birth to 21 puppies which would have been worth about £42,000 on the british market. the trafficker had pet passports for some of the dogs, stating they were his pets. but the evidence shows that he had most likely sourced them from a puppy mill. the dachshunds were being transported by a man called peter hovorka. after the dogs were seized, he was released without charge. a couple of days later, he was caught again, this time at the british border, where he had more dogs seized.
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dog trafficking can carryjail sentences, but traffickers are very rarely prosecuted. our world contacted peter hovorka but he did not respond. once the puppies are out of hungary, illegal traders have to create a story around the puppies to sell them. a team of government vets have been working with four paws, the country's biggest animal charity, to try to crack down on this illegal trade. criminal gangs are now moving into the puppy trade so the vets have asked
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that we mask their identity. the team is finding an increase in the number of online ads linked to the illegal puppy trade. it's not really difficult to find suspicious ads online. this ad just says "boxer puppies" — they are asking 1,200 euros per puppy. and i got this picture of the father. i checked the picture with google lens and found this picture here. it's a stolen picture. this can't be the father dog. this is a fake account set up to look like the puppy was from a family home. selling a small number of puppies born from your own pets is perfectly legal, but in order to sell large numbers of puppies, you need to be registered as a commercial breeder and have regular inspections and pay
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taxes on the sales. selling through social media and online auction sites allows illegal traders to set up multiple accounts. many of these claim to be selling puppies born from family pets. this seller has been linked to a network that's sold many puppies. the investigatorfrom four paws is trying to arrange a test purchase to confirm the evidence. this is a risky operation. one of the team goes ahead
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with a hidden camera, posing as a buyer. only once they are inside the flat and can see the puppy will the investigators and police confront the seller. with the puppy located, the rest of the team and the police close in on the flat.
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the seller is unable to prove where he got the puppy from so it is seized. the vets suspect the puppy has been smuggled into the country. legally imported puppies need a pet
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passport and proof of investigation, passport and proof of vaccination. this puppy has neither so it will have to go into quarantine. given the seller's record, it is likely this puppy was one of many that were smuggled from hungary. this shelter is part of a network near cologne that takes in puppies seized from the illegal dog trade. in the last few weeks, they have taken in 69 puppies that were trafficked from hungary. all of the puppies here were being transported to belgium. belgium is one of the main markets for puppies bred in hungary and other eastern european countries.
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every year belgium legally imports 19,000 puppies from eastern europe. thousands of puppies arrived at wholesale pet shops like this, where clients can order through click and collect. in belgium it is legal to sell puppies in pet shops but it is illegal to source them from puppy mills. this vet visited some wholesale puppy traders where she spotted illnesses commonly found in puppy mills. the director is showing her footage filmed at one of the traders she visited.
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our world has tracked down an ex—worker from this wholesale pet shop who has agreed to talk to us. there were dogs dying every day. you had days when you had to pick up ten in a day. the workload is very heavy, with only two employees we didn't have enough staff for all of those dogs. drinking nipples were also installed.
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dogs then have to push on those with their noses and then they get water but not all dogs understand that or some dogs, like chihuahuas, are too small to get to them so they didn't drink. anyone can buy as many puppies as they want here, no questions asked. british gangs have bought puppies here looking to cash in on this lucrative trade. translation: they came here | to resell those dogs in england. those englishmen, they also dealt in drugs. they bought about 20 dogs when they visited. they showed me the car and i saw that it was already full of dogs. theyjust threw ours in there. i once saw a picture of their boss, he lived in a mega huge house with three or four bentleys in the driveway. they really do have plenty of money. anthony godfroid has won civil cases against belgium shops selling sick puppies from puppy mills. they lose a lot of
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money because of me. because every case costs them 4,000—5,000 euros, more or less. but i don't cost them enough money, because they make millions and, 0k, there are seven conventions per year, maybe it's 40,000 euro, that is not a real problem for them. jail sentences for illegally trading in dogs are extremely rare and require investigations into criminal networks across borders that few authorities are prepared to tackle. these dogs have all been rescued from illegal breeders and traffickers. but thousands are trapped in puppy mills which produce tens of thousands of puppies that are now flooding the market. there aren't enough credible breeders to meet the huge demand for puppies so for now the most effective way of fighting against the illegal puppy trade
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is to do thorough research where the puppy comes from. hello, there. it's been a rather grey and gloomy saturday for many. a few scattered showers around as well. take a look at this weather watcher picture from thurnby in leicester, fairly indicative of the day. now, if you take a look at the satellite picture, you can see how extensive the cloud has been. there were some breaks across north—east england of scotland but also some showers. and drawing your attention to this speckled cloud in the far north—east, potential for some snow showers
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waiting in the wings to arrive later on monday. so, through the next few hours we keep that blanket of cloud for many, some coastal showers out to the west and east, perhaps more persistent ones in the far north—east of scotland. but because of the cloud around, on the whole, temperatures should just stay up into low single figures, but it's going to be a chilly start to our sunday morning. once again, another grey and gloomy day, almost a repeat performance of saturday's story. there will be some coastal showers around, on the whole, largely quiet and temperatures sitting between 6—9 celsius, just that little bit colder in the northern isles as that cold air starts to descend. so, arctic air pushing its way steadily southwards as we go into monday. so, really from monday onwards, you're going to start to notice the difference to the feel of our weather. if you haven't already heard, it's going to turn cold and windy, and snow and ice could be an issue, particularly to the far north and east. so, it's likely as we go through the day on monday, this weather front will introduce
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the colder air. it's going to turn the rain ahead of the front into snow showers behind it, particularly across the far north and east of scotland and north—east england. to the south of that weather front we'll still keep those temperatures around generally 7—9 celsius. but then that sinks its way steadily south, so we start off on tuesday with some sunny spells, cold and frosty. and, yes, there will be further snow showers across northern and eastern coasts, and those temperatures are going to struggle, 4—5 celsius, but factor in the strength and the direction of the wind, it certainly will feel noticeably colder. so, certainly you'll need to wrap up warm. it looks likely that we are going to see that cold snap continuing through the middle part of the week as well. so, if you've got outdoor travel plans monday into tuesday,
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mariupol this is bbc world news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories... the head of russia's wagner group, claims its forces now surround most of bakhmut — the eastern ukrainian city that's been the focus of intense fighting. more schoolgirls in iran have been targeted, in apparent poison gas attacks the united nations and iran reach an agreement that would allow un officials to carry out further inspections of tehran�*s nuclear programme. the only thing that matters is that we are able to inspect, that we are able to account for every gram of enriched material that is there. and this is the spirit of the exchanges, and we have been working satisfactorily in that regard.
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prince harry describes writing his memoir as an act of service —

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