Meeting raises issues over animal welfare law

Meeting raises issues over animal welfare law

He was speaking to around 100 people in St Martin’s Public Hall, who were either involved or interested in the way premises working with animals in a commercial way are run.Organised by Deputy Bob Hill, who has tabled a number of amendments to the law, the meeting was also addressed by Economic Development Committee member Deputy Mike Taylor.Some people questioned the need for commercially run premises to be licensed, but Deputy Taylor pointed out that there were extreme cases which made this essential.’There have been extreme incidents like one where dogs’ ears were ripped,’ he said – an incident obviously known about by some in the audience who applauded his revelation.The problem was that under the present cruelty law it was extremely difficult to prove guilty intent, he said.The main worries harboured by those present included the way in which a commercial operator was defined.

Some believed this definition should be based on the number of litters an animal produced in a year and not the amount of breeding animals on the premises.Mr Nicholls said that all suggestions put forward would be considered when the draft codes of practice were examined in more detail.Among the more controversial issues was the subject raised by Deputy Hill about the docking of dogs’ tails.Vet Max Allan said the Royal Colleges had told veterinary surgeons that it would be contravening their code of ethics to dock dogs’ tails for cosmetic reasons.

No vets in the Island would carry out that procedure on those grounds.

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