Molly

Me and my husband went to view a puppy on the 22nd December from an advert on Gumtree. The seller advised us she was from a litter of 9 from her mother’s dog, that she was selling 5 of them on her behalf. The wee puppy was the last one left. We paid the £1400 by bank transfers to an Andrei Teglas, we were given a health card which to us looked legitimate as we hadn’t ever purchased a puppy/dog previously. It had the pup’s personal details, dates, vaccinations, stamps and signatures. My husband took our pup (Molly Dolly Daisy) to the vets– Ivy bank, Kilwinning on the 29thDecember for a check-up, 2nd vaccinations and microchip. However the vet questioned her health card and advised she (Lindsay Callan) would need to contact Trading Standards.

We had a visit from TS (Colin Alcoft and a colleague) on the morning of 31st December, they advised they believe the pup had been imported illegally from Romania. They proceeded to give us 3 options: 1/ to put Molly in a Dogs Trust, where they would put her in quarantine and then sell her on after. 2/ to put her to sleep – Animal euthanasia. 3/ to pay ourselves to put her into quarantine at a high cost. We chose option 3 and Molly was picked up around 5pm that day by Aquithie Boarding & Quarantine Kennels, Inverurie.

My husband returned to the address where we picked Molly up from on the 1st January 2021 in hope of some answers. The seller who traded as Alice on Gumtree (Real name Alunita Covaci) continued to advise that the pup was born in the UK and the vets her mum uses was in Manchester. Her mum was currently working and could not be contacted by the vets but they would contact us later that day with the information, therefore my husband left our details. We never received any communication from the sellers. Gumtree email address:cnp01552q7k4g@reply.gumtree.com

The sellers have traded from previous addresses and are currently trading from their home address: Trading Standards suspect it is to do with money laundering.

I feel lucky after reading your story, it’s heart-breaking. We have cried for days over the conditions and our wee Molly not being here, but we are very lucky to be having her returned after she is out of quarantine.