A COUNCIL report into its handling of the prosecution of an illegal Llanwnnen dog breeder has been labelled a “whitewash”.

Ahead of a licensing committee meeting this week, Ceredigion County Council prepared a report which looked at its handling of the investigation and prosecution of illegal dog breeder Richard Samuel Morgan Jones, 31, who was convicted of breeding dogs without a licence and causing unnecessary suffering to 21 dogs in his care.

The report calls on members to acknowledge “the complexity of the case and the effective manner in which it has been dealt with”.

But the report makes no recommendations to ensure the welfare of animals found to be suffering after it was revealed that Jones was allowed to keep the 131 dogs found at two of his premises, ‘Y Shed, Gelligwenyn’ and ‘Moelfre’, following searches by the council last June, despite some of the dogs found being “close to death”.

Speaking to the Cambrian News this week, anti-puppy farm campaign group Puppy Love said the report was a “mass of contradictions” and accused the council of using “smoke and mirrors”.

“This report is a mass of contradictions from the answers and documents we have in our possession,” said Ronnie Lambert, of Puppy Love Campaigns.

“This report is an exercise in smoke and mirrors with no clear timelines.”

The report reveals that the council did not remove the dogs in June 2016, but instead served an ‘improvement notice’ on Jones compelling him to seek veterinary care for the dogs and improve their living conditions.

See this week’s south editions for the full story, in shops and online now