We use some essential cookies to make this website work.
We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.
We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.
You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.
You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.
Departments, agencies and public bodies
News stories, speeches, letters and notices
Detailed guidance, regulations and rules
Reports, analysis and official statistics
Consultations and strategy
Data, Freedom of Information releases and corporate reports
What you need to do if you keep, grow, find or sell certain invasive plant species and your responsibilities to prevent their spread.
What local authorities are required to do when dealing with stray or abandoned dogs.
Find out what you must do before you get a pet pig, how to register as a keeper and get a pig walking licence and what you can feed pet pigs.
Wreck and salvage laws, the role of the Receiver of the Wreck, wreck owners and salvors and how to report wreck material.
Information to help answer your query and how to contact the VMD for specific services or enquiries.
How to import or move live animals and germinal products from the EU to Great Britain.
Report farm animal welfare concerns in England to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
How developers can use habitat creation or enhancements to count towards their biodiversity net gain (BNG).
Apply to join the Natural England great crested newt district level licensing scheme as a developer, ecologist or landowner.
Find out how to record information about nature recovery activities in a consistent way.
Find out what you must do as a public body when carrying out or approving activities on or near sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs).
Explainer on the rules for advertising products used in, on or near animals that are not licensed veterinary medicines.
How the Nature Restoration Fund works and what developers need to know. This guidance will be updated regularly as the service is developed.
A list of organisations in England, Scotland and Wales that inspect and certify animals and animal products for export. The list does not include every certifier.
From 7 October 2025, dogs commercially imported from Romania must have a negative Brucella canis test result. Find out how to send samples to Great Britain for testing.
Check if you need an Article 10 or Article 60 certificate for commercial use of a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) specimen.
Find out when you must use a Defra-approved disinfectant, which product to use, and in what concentration.
How to apply for a licence to offer boarding for cats and dogs, and the conditions you'll need to meet.
How to get a licence to sell animals as pets, and the conditions you'll need to meet.
How developers can create and enhance habitat on-site to deliver biodiversity net gain (BNG).
Do not include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.
To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab and requires JavaScript).