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Animal health and welfare licences

How to apply for a range of animal health and welfare licences, including cat and dog boarding, dog breeding, keeping exotic, dangerous or wild animals, moving animals, performing animals, animals in pet shops, keeping primates, riding establishments and zoos.

In this section:

Animal health and welfare licences

We offer a range of animal health and welfare licences you can apply for:

Enforcing animal health and welfare legislation

Animal health and welfare legislation is enforced jointly by the local authority and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), in association with other government bodies and independent organisations like the RSPCA.

Environmental Health

Our Environmental Health service provide licensing on:

  • pet shops
  • horse riding establishments 
  • dog breeding establishments
  • animal boarding establishments 
  • dangerous wild animals  

Trading Standards

Our Trading Standards service provide licensing on:

  • animal movements
  • zoos

Trading Standards provide advice and enforcement on:

  • animal by-products
  • welfare of animals
  • Illegal landings of pets at Luton Airport for prevention of rabies
  • animal diseases outbreak in conjunction with Defra
  • the Pet Travel scheme

Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 

Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) provides advice and enforcement on: 

  • National Animal Health and Welfare Strategy 
  • animal welfare at farms, markets and slaughterhouses 
  • the pet travel scheme
  • international trade in animals 
  • animal diseases - control and surveillance, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), tuberculosis, scrapie, foot and mouth disease 
  • animal by-products 
  • wildlife conservation and biodiversity 
  • wildlife crime

For more information, contact Defra.

Telephone: 08459 33 55 77

Monday to Friday
9.30am to 1pm and 2 to 4pm