According to county veterinarian Madeleine Beckman, there are more and more similar examples.

- It's getting more and more. Several times a year we come across such cases, says Madeleine Beckman.

Between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2018, the Swedish Board of Agriculture made 4259 decisions about dogs smuggled into Sweden. Of these, 594 are deceased, which means that a smuggling dog was killed during the week during this period.

Get more calls

At the same time, figures from the Customs Agency show how the smuggling of dogs is increasing. In 2018, 145 interventions were made involving 190 dogs. This is the highest figure since 2012 when the rules regarding the control of the dwarf bandworm and rabies were eased (in 2016 194 dogs were detected but in far fewer interventions than 2018).

In Halland there are no exact figures. But Madeleine Beckman feels that there are more and more conversations about such cases.

- It could be veterinary colleagues calling, animal welfare reports from private individuals or municipalities who hear that there are suspected infected dogs, says Madeleine Beckman.

Coming from the east

The puppies almost always come from Eastern European countries, including Belarus, Poland, Hungary and Romania. The risk is that they will carry infectious diseases such as rabies, chinworm, leptospirosis and salmonella.

The question usually ends up with the Board of Agriculture. There you can either decide on killing or isolating the dog in their home. The latter has been found to contain deficiencies, something that both the county veterinarian and a new report from the Public Health Authority show.

- Some are careful to isolate them, others are not. That means they can be resold. We at the County Administrative Board have no opportunity whatsoever to intervene. The Swedish Board of Agriculture has no control over this either, says Madeleine Beckaman.

Would it have been better if the County Administrative Board had taken care of the tasks that the Swedish Agricultural Agency has in this case?

- Yes, we are equipped for this job. But in such cases we would need more resources, the county veterinarian responds.

The Swedish Agricultural Agency will respond to the criticism during the day.

You hear more in the clip.