Council wants to license animal rehoming centres

A council said it has "lobbied" the government for animal rehoming centres to be licensed by local authorities after 41 dogs were found dead at a property.

Essex Police found dogs and one cat in squalid conditions at Save A Paw, run by Oaveed Rahman in Crays Hill, near Billericay, in May.

In an emotion-fuelled Basildon Borough Council meeting on Thursday, one resident raised concern over why action had not been taken against Save A Paw sooner.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would consult on "introducing licensing regulations for domestic rescue and rehoming organisations".

A petition that was debated in Parliament in January had asked the government to introduce mandatory licensing for dog and cat rescues to improve welfare standards.

At the meeting on Thursday, Labour councillor Aidan McGurran said the council had lobbied the government "to ensure councils are given the responsibility of ensuring all rescue and rehoming organisations are licensed by local authority".

He added: "Clearly this is a gap in the system at present which needs to be addressed and we have made the point that councils need to be sufficiently funded in order to carry out this appropriately.

"I'm sure every single member was appalled at the terrible events that took place at Hope Road.

"Our main aim is to learn from those awful events so we never see anything like that again in this borough."

A resident at the meeting asked why an investigation into the Save A Paw was not carried out between 2023 and 2025 based on the AnimalWelfare Act.

McGurran said the council was limited to what action it could take as rescue centres were not a licensable activity it could regulate.

He said: "I seeked guidance from officers and ensured that procedures were followed properly.

"All allegations relating to licensable activity were and continue to be investigated."

He added the incident has sparked significant changes on how the authority engages with rehoming centres in the future.

"I understand the frustration about what happened to the dogs," he said.

"We have to operate within the regulations that exist and we have to provide evidence to support them.

"We can't just storm into someone's house because we want to, it doesn't work like that," McGurran said.

A Defra spokesperson said the department was "appalled by this horrific incident", adding: "No animal should ever suffer in this way."

"We urge prospective owners to rehome animals from reputable organisations, such as members of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes, who set stringent standards for health and rehoming," they said.

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