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THE DOCKING BAN  -  OUR EXEMPTION IS SAFE

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Last Wednesday in the Grand Committe of the Lords,  the Countess of Mar raised an objection to the provision of an exemption for working under the proposed tail docking regulations.  The Council of Docked Breeds issued a statement concluding that our exemption was now in jeopardy. 

It will come as a relief to working gundog breeders to hear that this morning The British Association for Shooting and Conservation have refuted this claim and clearly state in their press release below that our exemption is safe.   BASC's press release is shown in full below

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Press release from the British Association for Shooting and Conservations

12 March 2007

On Wednesday 7 March, the Grand Committee of the Lords met to discuss a package of three statutory instruments on "mutilations" arising from the Animal Welfare Act. One of these dealt with the exemption from the ban on tail docking contained in the Act for working dogs including gundogs.

The Committee acts by consensus. An unexpected objection from the Countess of Mar - who declared an interest as an honorary associate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) who have opposed the exemption -disrupted this. As a result the regulation will be taken on the floor of the Lords when time is available. This applies to all three regulations which include bans on devoicing cockerels, clipping dogs’ ears and drilling tortoises’ shells. 

This does not affect the principle of an exemption for working dogs which has already been agreed by both Houses of Parliament and is enshrined in the Animal Welfare Act. What is now under consideration is how the exemption will be implemented. The regulations have already been passed by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments (for compliance with the law) and the Merits Committee (for compliance with policy). They will next be debated in the Commons on Tuesday morning.

The Animal Welfare Act is an enabling Act that gives powers to the Government to act to improve animal welfare through a series of regulations. BASC's information is that should those regulations not have been passed by parliament when the Act comes into force on 6th April, then it will mean that the clauses relating to docking - and other "mutilations" - will not come into effect. The status quo on docking before the ban will remain in force. There will not be any risk to docking the tails of vulnerable working dogs.

Christopher Graffius, BASC's Director of Communications, who lobbied for the exemption for working dogs said: "The Countess of Mar appears to have unwittingly worked against animal welfare when she disrupted the consensus on the Grand Committee of the House of Lords. Her action has introduced a delay on the implementation of a range of clauses dealing with mutilations including the cosmetic docking of dogs' tails. The exemption for working dogs remains safe and we are now working with the government to ensure that sensible regulations are put in place as soon as possible."    

ENDS