A FATHER and son who import puppies put the public at risk of a fatal disease by breaking the anti-rabies regulations, York Magistrates' Court heard.

Milan Holan, 50, and his son, also called Milan, 24, sold an imported eight-week-old Bulldog bitch puppy to a York couple without vaccination, said Victoria Waudby, prosecuting.

“There is no treatment for humans contracting rabies in this country and so it is critical to prevent infected animals from arriving in the UK,” she said.

The Holans’ crime meant the York couple had to spend nearly as much on quarantining the dog as they had on buying it and ruined their Christmas because the puppy had to be in kennels. She was healthy and is now settled with them.

The two Holans had brought at least two loads of puppies in from Slovakia and had advertised young dogs for sale beside the one sold to the York couple, said Ms Waudby.

The father admitted importing an animal against the rabies regulations and causing an animal to come into Britain without a health certificate.

Both Holans, who live in Bruford Road, Wolverhampton, and had proceedings translated into Czech, admitted unfair trading.

The father was fined £360, the son £200 and between them they were ordered to compensate the York couple the full £834 cost of the quarantine kennels and £2,000 prosecution costs to City of York Council, which brought the case.

For them, Bally Paul said neither had realised the seriousness of their actions and they weren’t aware of the regulations.

The son, a car valet, had acted under his jobless father’s directions.