Just prior to giving birth the heavily pregnant females are moved to the whelping pens. They are given no bedding or nesting materials, just a plastic bed or wooden box on a concrete floor. The conditions are so stressful for the dogs that many may undergo problems before, during and after giving birth. Young, inexperienced females are sometimes used - some less than a year old. One young female, only nine months old, gave birth to six pups - she ate five of them.

Another youngster, numbered DF163, was not yet four years old but had already been mated five times and produced four litters. Her first pregnancy produced no pups. Her first successful litter was born in January 97 - of the five pups born only two survived. Her second litter was born just seven months later, producing two pups - both stillborn. Her third litter in March 98 produced seven pups but only four survived. Seven months later and another litter, this time five pups. We believe that she is still housed at Harlan UK awaiting another pregnancy. Obviously, a poor breeding record does not let her off the hook.

For those that survive the early years, there is no let-up. When our investigator arrived, female numbered 61M was the oldest on site. She had been mated 11 times with 10 litters, resulting in over 60 pups. Her production of litters was declining, so at the age of nine years and five months she was killed. Her breeding days were over, and the company had no further use for her. Just prior to her death she was described by our investigator as: "an elderly, white-faced dog with low hanging teats and very black teeth".

DG796 died just four days after giving birth and while she was still nursing her litter. Our investigator was told that she had been given the wrong ‘wormer' drug. One pup had been stillborn, three days later another was found dead and a third was killed for health reasons. The next day, mother DG796 died and another pup was killed. The remainder went to another female DG957, for fostering, who herself had just undergone a caesarean with her second litter.

Unplanned and unmonitored pregnancies have also occurred when males and females are housed together in stock units. One female, DH1086, was only 10 months old and not selected for breeding. She was in a pen of dogs waiting to be killed as surplus to requirements but was found to be heavily pregnant. Her pen mates were killed in a mass slaughter in July 98, while DH1086 was moved to a whelping unit. She gave birth seven days later on 1st August. Some of her pups were stillborn, she probably ate the others. None of her pups survived.

Unable to be sold and not needed as a breeder, DH1086 joined the elderly 61M and was killed on 11th September 98.

Females may be left on their own overnight to give birth without assistance. It is possible to have a camera set up in the pen to enable a member of staff to monitor the situation but this rarely seems to happen. One female, DF158 with a poor breeding record, was left to give birth while other staff went off to their Christmas party and, as a result, our investigator was left unsupervised to give an intra-muscular injection (something she was not trained for), in case the dog had difficulty giving birth. In the end, she gave birth unaided.

This general neglect and poor husbandry extends to newborn pups, with those that are struggling sometimes being left alone with little attempt made to treat them. Our investigator was told that the general assumption was that they would be dead by morning. This problem is exacerbated at holidays and weekends when pups needing re-hydration formula can be left for 20 hours at a time, due to inadequate staff cover.

It is not surprising, considering these conditions, that the mortality rate of pre-weaned pups can be as high as 24% (June 98) and 21.5% (Sept 98).