THE identity of a violent Scots thug behind one of the UK's most controversial dog breeding programmes has been exposed.
Gary Hemming, an Edinburgh man with multiple convictions for violence spanning 20 years, uses the name Gari Ferrari to breed hairless French Bulldogs.
But his operation, and the genetic health of the animals he breeds then sells, largely on social media, has horrified experts and will be exposed in a new BBC documentary.
Animals welfare experts have called Hemming’s breeding programme "simply unacceptable", "intentionally harmful" and "against the law".
He is part of a world of extreme breeders who specialise in dogs such as American bullies and English bulldogs.
But Hemming's big money market is abroad and he's even got a breeding arrangement with the wife of an organised crime figure.
BBC Scotland's Disclosure sent a reporter undercover to discover Hemming, who has convictions for robbery, domestic assault and grievous bodily harm, was behind the operation.
Sam Poling, of the BBC, posed as overseas investor and spent months infiltrating networks of extreme breeders and dealers in the UK.
Sam said: “I’ve investigated the dog trade before and thought I had seen everything.
"But the sheer scale of this network, together with the extreme and illegal breeding practices now being used by dealers to profit from dogs, has really shocked me.”
Hemming told her he has a licence for breeding more than 100 dogs but Edinburgh City Council say there is no record of him being licensed to breed dogs.
Hemming told Sam: "You've got to understand the valuation of what the dog can produce.
"Outright, I've sold females, obviously, in the margin of between 100 and 250 (thousand pounds).
"And then on males, I only co-own them, I don't sell them."
The French bulldog is the second most popular breed in the UK but Hemming’s dogs are being bred to extremes.
He said his ultimate goal is the "unicorn dog" – the rarest dog in the world.
His extreme dog breeding programme seeks to combine every marketable characteristic in just one dog.
"Every bit of DNA in a dog, in one dog, as in colours and patterns," he says.
"Like, pink comes from other breeds. Chocolate comes from other breeds, merle comes from other breeds. You can turn them pink."
Leading veterinary surgeon Jane Ladlow of Cambridge University's Department of Veterinary Medicine has expressed concern about the breeding of crossbred dogs for profit.
Ladlow, who is a French and English bulldogs expert, said that these crossbreeds are being created solely to make puppies that can be sold at a higher price.
She added: "The public has the choice, choose healthy, well-bred dogs or choose this kind of exaggerated mutant.
"I wouldn't buy any of these dogs. I feel really sorry for them."
She added that some breeders are crossing lines into animal cruelty, and called for greater regulation of the breeding industry to protect
The British Veterinary Association, along with the SSPCA and other animal welfare experts, are urging for stronger legislation to combat organized crime and unscrupulous breeders in the industry.
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