Animal Boarding Establishments
Animal Boarding Establishments (Kennels)
The Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963 requires that premises for boarding dogs and cats (kennels and catteries) must be licensed by the local authority.
Environmental Health Officers visit each premises to check compliance with the legislation and licence conditions.
Pet Shops
The Pet Animals Act 1951 requires any shop that sells pets to be licensed by the local authority. The premises are inspected to check compliance with general health and safety requirements, and also the welfare of the animals.
Dog Breeders
Under Breeding of Dogs Act 1973, as amended by the Breeding and Sale of Dogs (Welfare) Act 1999, you must have a licence from the local authority to keep a breeding establishment for dogs.
A breeding establishment is defined as follows:
A person keeps a breeding establishment for dogs at any premises if he/she carries on at those premises a business of breeding dogs for sale. 'Premises' includes a private dwelling.
A person whose bitches give birth to five or more litters in any 12 month period is presumed to be carrying on a dog breeding business and would normally have to be licensed.
Bitches count towards the qualifying total if they are kept at any time during the 12 month period by the applicant/licence holder at the premises at which he/she is carrying on the business of breeding dogs for sale; or if they are kept at those premises by any of his/her relatives.
Dangerous Wild Animals
The Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 states that licences are required from the local authority to keep certain animals specified in the Act.
| Scientific Name | Common Names |
| Canidae, except the species Canis Familiaris and Vulpes vulpes | Wild dog, wolf, jackal, coyote, fennec, fox (except domestic dog and common red fox) |
| Casyariidae | Cassowary |
| Ceropithecidae | Old world monkey (including langur, colobus, macaque, guenon, patas, mangabey, baboon, mandrill) |
| Crocodylia | Alligator, crocodile, gharial, false gharial, caiman |
| Elapidae (including Hydrophiidae) | Cobra, krait, mamba, coral snake, sea snake, all Australian poisonous snakes including the death adder |
| Felidae, except the species Felis catus | Lynx, caracal, serval bobcat, cheetah, lion, tiger, leopard, panther, jaguar, puma, cougar, ocelot (except the domestic cat) |
| Helodermatidae | Gila monster, Mexican beaded lizard |
| Hylodermatidae | Gibbon |
| Pongidae | Anthropoid ape (including orang-utan, gorilla, chimpanzee |
| Rheidae | Rhea |
| Struthionidae | Ostrich |
| Ursidae | Polar bear, brown bear, grizzly bear |
| Viperidae (including Crotalidae) | Most snakes known as vipers or adders, the rattlesnake, bushmaster, fer-de-lance, water moccasin, copperhead |
An application must be made to the local authority who will inspect the premises where the animal is to be kept with a vet to ensure that the conditions, cages, food, etc is suitable.
Your premises will be inspected by a vet and you will also have to pay extra for this.
Riding Establishments
If you provide riding lessons or hire out horses for payment, you will require a licence under the Riding Establishments Acts 1964 and 1970 which you should obtain from the local authority will ensure licence conditions are being met.
