Forced to sleep with rotting carcasses in faeces-smeared caravan… hellish puppy farm that reveals horrors of vile trade
ROTTING carcasses fed to Rottweilers surrounded by sun bleached pig skulls sounds more like a scene from a Tarantino movie than the back garden of a leafy London suburb.
But these were just some of the horrors uncovered at the Surbiton home of a young mum described as a pivotal player in an international animal smuggling ring.
Micaela Anderson-Letts, 35, walked free despite a court hearing the scarcely believable catalogue of cruelty she had shown.
Dozens of animals were found starving and dehydrated in soaring temperatures, living in their own filth, infested with parasites and infections.
Pigs, chicks and hens were forced to compete for food leaving them injured, starved and without water in soaring summer heat.
Offal and entrails were also dumped in the Surbiton garden where Rottweilers roamed around pools of congealing blood and faeces.
RSPCA, police and council inspectors who visited described the stench of rotting animal flesh as overwhelming.
But Anderson-Letts is only the tip of the iceberg of the UK’s puppy farming industry.
Animal charities estimate the illegal market to be worth millions of pounds annually, fuelled by a rise in the number of people buying puppies online since lockdown.
Twice as many people bought from social media compared to five years ago, according to The Kennel Club.
As many as a third of these puppies are suspected to have come from puppy farms.
And tragically, the stats also show that up to a quarter of puppies bought via social media sites become sick or die within a year, often due to the severe mistreatment they faced on these farms.
Normally, a license is required for anyone who breeds three or more litters of puppies in a year.
But in Anderson-Letts’ address in Surbiton, at least 30 animals were seized.
Eating pig skin
Border Force picked up Anderson-Letts when she arrived in the UK from France in October 2020, questioning inconsistencies in her animal passports and quarantining three German Shepherds.
She told officers she had brought another nine dogs through the tunnel the day before.
The quarantined puppies were released back to her and police were brought in to investigate.
Using powers to protect the UK from rabies, the force raided her home.
They found puppies in cages and roaming free, and more German Shepherds eating pig skin in the garden alongside English bulldogs and a Shih Tzu.
During another inspection, a man was detained trying to leave her property with Beagle puppies stuffed in a suitcase.
Anderson-Letts claimed pigs were slaughtered in her garden while others died locked in a trailer with no food or water, with the remains fed to her dogs and chickens.
During the lockdown heatwave of 2020, inspectors found four pigs kept in full sunshine in a pen too small for them all to lay down at the same time and a trailer with two more bloated, dead pigs inside.
But the grim discoveries didn’t end there.
A pig pancreas was left on top of a rabbit hutch where more than 25 chicks were crammed in, suffering from the 29 degrees Celsius heat, while more animal body parts and pig skulls were found strewn around the back garden.
The whole floor was covered in faeces and urine soaked cardboard
PC Marie Jenner
Another 30 hens of mixed ages and sizes pecked at each other to compete for food, and a dead bird has almost completely disintegrated on the floor of a filthy coup.
Yet, despite a conviction after one of the dogs bit a policeman and a banning order preventing her from keeping animals, she moved to Sussex and carried on importing animals from the continent.
Sussex Police were called to an abandoned caravan in a car park at Eastbourne in 2021 following reports from concerned members of the public.
They found 35 puppies locked inside.
Anderson-Letts denied responsibility for the caravan despite CCTV evidence showing her vehicle towing it to the carpark.
Labradors, Dachshunds and French Bulldogs were also found living in a state of squalor.
PC Marie Jenner, of the Sussex Police Rural Crime Team, said: “The whole floor was covered in faeces and urine soaked cardboard.
“There were exposed wires, nails and screws and broken pieces of wood and tools throughout. The conditions were completely uninhabitable.”
Black market
Puppy farming has become an easy buck for criminals in the UK, with the RSCPA reporting that reports rose five-fold between 2008 and 2009.
But it was during Covid that the black market exploded.
Illegal breeders use a variety of tactics to avoid detection, often delivering the new puppy to the buyer’s home address ensuring the location the dogs are kept remains unseen.
According to the British Veterinary Association, around one in four buyers do not do any research on the breeder before making a purchase.
Much of this has been driven by the ignorance – or carelessness – of buyers searching around on sites such as Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, and Pets4Homes.
Avoiding rogue puppy breeders
This is what the RSPCA recommends to those looking to buy or adopt a dog:
- Where possible, please adopt a dog from a rescue centre. See rspca.org.uk/findapet for all the dogs in our care looking for homes.
- Do lots of research before choosing a breeder and beware anyone who is selling large numbers of puppies at the same time or puppies of different breeds from different litters, or people using the same name or contact number across different adverts on different websites.
- Use the Puppy Contract – a free online tool to guide you through the process and will help you find a happy, healthy dog;
- Check the puppy’s age – they should not be sold under eight weeks.
- Check for a licence – anyone selling three or more litters a year should be licensed.
- Beware sellers who arrange to meet you somewhere unusual – like a car park or a service station – or who say you can’t see the puppy with their mother or in the environment in which he or she was bred.
- Beware sellers who put pressure on you to buy quickly, won’t let you visit more than once, or insist on cash payments.
Always report suspected puppy farms or irresponsible breeding to the RSPCA, the police, or your local authority.
Even more shockingly, a similar proportion of buyers held suspicions that the breeder they used was operating illegally, according to The Kennel Club.
“The pandemic had a huge impact on animal welfare and saw a boom in pet ownership, but sadly some unscrupulous breeders cashed in on demand, breeding puppies in often terrible conditions,” an RSPCA spokesperson told The Sun.
They added: “We have serious concerns about the welfare of the dogs exploited in this industry, and the puppies who are seen simply as profit – as well as the unsuspecting members of the public falling foul to unscrupulous sellers.
“Puppies who have been bred and reared in poor conditions here or who have been smuggled into the UK from overseas often have serious health problems. Being mixed with other litters can create the perfect breeding ground for serious diseases.”
Astonishingly, after officers questioned her application to breed and sell puppies legally, Anderson-Letts threatened to sue the council, claiming she was a knowledgeable and caring animal lover.
Kingston Crown Court heard the animal smuggling ring she was at the heart of was raking in thousands selling smuggled puppies in high demand during Covid lockdown.
Some dogs were for sale at £4,000 each.
The smuggled dogs were sourced from her family contacts in Poland or bought from France and brought through the Channel Tunnel using doctored passports and vaccination documents.
Anderson-Letts was in charge of advertising and collecting money, distributing thousands of pounds electronically.
Police also found nearly £10,000 cash in her car, and calculated she stood to make more than £173,000 from the illegal sales of undocumented puppies she was advertising for sale.
Puppy profit
But Anderson-Letts is by no means the only breeder to have pocketed hundreds of thousands of pounds from their cruel operation.
In Newport in Wales, six men all from the same family were jailed in February 2024 after RSPCA investigators found emaciated dogs kept in cages, mistreated, and bred in sheds.
It was a wholly money making enterprise with absolutely no regard for the welfare of the animals sold
Judge Tregilgas-Davey
The McDonagh family are thought to have pocketed around £300,000 after scamming buyers into thinking the animals had come from loving homes with fake adverts.
Also in Wales, Julie Pearce and her daughters Rosalie Pearce and Kaylie Adams made £150,000 after keeping dozens of dogs in “appalling” conditions during lockdown.
And in Shropshire, Betty Burton and Jeff McDonagh were handed suspended prison sentences in July 2021 after making an estimated £250,000 in profit.
Fifteen of the puppies sold by the pair tragically died.
Spared jail
Anderson-Letts was also spared jail for her crimes.
One hearing was adjourned when she claimed ‘travel anxiety’ meant she could not attend court.
As she waited for trial in London, her bail conditions had to be amended in Sussex so she could make a Sheriff Court appearance in Aberdeen.
Between her first arrest in 2021 and sentencing on Monday, she gave birth to a daughter who is now a year old.
The judge in Kingston handed her a suspended sentence of 24 months after hearing there was nobody else to look after the baby.
As she walked free, Anderson-Letts claimed only God could judge her.
His Honour Judge Marcus Tregilgas-Davey completely rejected her claims of remorse, telling her she was a proven liar who had misled and ignored pleas from authorities to look after her animals.
“Documents seized showed she was part of a well organised and structured origination in which she played a pivotal role.
“She posted adverts and collected money – she was at the heart of this organisation. It was a wholly money making enterprise with absolutely no regard for the welfare of the animals sold.”
She was also given an animal banning order which lasts until further notice, and ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work.
Judge Tregilgas-Davey asked for further investigation into her finances, and she is set to reappear in court next month.