A PETITION set up on Change.org by @zooinspectors imploring Bradford Council to ban animals from all allotment sites in the area has received over 1,500 signatures.

In response, Bradford Council has issued a statement saying that it does all it can to eradicate this practice on council-owned and third-party-owned land, but has no control over private property.

The petition claims that dogs, horses and domestic pets are left alone on allotment sites in miserable squalid conditions throughout the UK, in contravention of animal laws.

It also states that puppies are being bred illegally in allotment sheds, leaving them freezing in winter and suffocating in summer.

It says this means animals that animals are not discovered until they are dying of thirst and starvation.

The petition makes it clear that it is aware that Bradford Council-run allotments do not allow animals, but it says it wants the council to ban animals from all allotment sites.

A council spokesperson said: “Bradford Council has restrictions in place on all council-owned allotments that no animals are allowed to be kept on site apart from chickens, rabbits and bees, and then only with special approval in each case.

“In respect of third-party-owned land, the Council’s Environmental Health Service is required to reasonably investigate any complaint made to it by a resident of the District alleging the existence of a statutory nuisance and to serve an abatement notice if such nuisance is in existence or is likely to occur/recur.

“However, the Council has no authority to control whether or not animals can be kept on privately-owned land and any restrictions will be within the title’s respective covenants.

“Any suspected mistreatment of animals should be reported to the RSPCA, or in some cases, the police.

"Complaints about the illegal breeding of puppies should be referred to Environmental Health who will investigate.”