New legislation in Scotland

[daftscotslass]

A bill is currently being passed through the Scottish parliament that is likely to become law by August. It will mean:

• Moreso than ever, owners will be legally bound to provide care for their pets. This includes basics such as food, water, exercise and veterinary treatment. This will also include prevention of mental suffering.
• The word "animal" will be clearly defined, so that people cannot get out of charges on technicalities.
• Tail docking of dogs will be made illegal except for medical purposes (i.e. only if it gets seriously injured).
• Penalties for breaking the above laws and others will be much more severe.
• Animals as prizes will be banned.

About time.

[citronsoul]

Sounds good! Tail docking became illegal here at the beginning of the year. I'm so relieved about that. Ear cropping became illegal in 2001.

Hopefully there will be less animal abuse after this becomes law. Do you know what the penalties will be yet?

[Percy's Mom]

I wish docking and cropping were illegal here. It's so cruel and painful.

I was looking through a book of dog breeds with a friend of mine and saw a doberman that hadn't been cropped or docked, so I commented that he looked really cute like that. The response I got back, "Pssh, they aren't SUPPOSED to be cute!" Huh?

I suppose eventually we'll catch up with you guys.

[citronsoul]

I think dobermans look so much better with their natural ears.

My problem is cocker spaniels. I love American Cocker Spaniels & hope to get one one day. I was reading through some local Dutch sites & although it's illegal here, breeders have to follow the standard set by the States (since it's an American standard). So as long as the States allows tail docking, breeders may still try to get it done via another country. I don't really understand why, because they can't be shown over here with a docked tail. I obviously wouldn't get it from a breeder, but it just means that some people will still go out of their way to get around this law.

[daftscotslass]

Sounds like the UK Kennel Club reaction to the proposed ban. They argued for the case of docking because it was "traditional". Hah!

[Spirited]

I must say that I continue to be disappointed by the Kennel Club, if they only removed the allowance for docking in the breed standard then they would put an end to the completely unnecessary pain and removal of a chunk of the canine communication system.

At the moment, there shouldn't be docking in the UK anyway, because by law it can only be done by veterinary surgeon and the Royal College of Vet Surgeons have long advised against docking for cosmetic reasons.

Arguments have been made along the lines that the breeds were originally docked to work in conditions where there was a high risk of tail injury. However, even if these were acceptable (they are not*) it cannot apply to show dogs which barely resemble their working cousins. *Traditionally docked and undocked breeds worked in the same conditions, for example spaniels are often docked, but labrador retrievers, also gun dogs were not docked, Old english sheep dogs got the cut, but border collies didn't.

Besides all this - of course docking puppies prevents tail injuries in the grown dog, as would amputating all their limbs prevent frequent paw injuries - but I don't see anyone arguing for removing dog's legs shortly after birth.

Congrats to Scotty land (my home country) for getting a ban in view, lets hope England and Wales follow and don't remove the dail docking part of the bill as has been speculated.

Spirited