Tail Docking

[Crossbill]

The Scottish Government have just reintroduced tail docking for working dogs (or rather, dogs of specific breeds that might perhaps go on to be working dogs).  Apparently it's better to amputate as a preventative measure than treat an injury, should it occur.  They were backed up by the Tories (and most of the Lib Dems) so you know it's a terrible policy.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-40357585

Fucking wanks.

 

Labour and the Greens (and every veterinary and animal welfare group in Scotland) opposed.

 

[NotThePars]

The North East will be flocking back after this.

[Ned Nederlander]

Yip - Nicola Sturgeon Puppy Surgeon.

I know hee-haw about tail docking, it sounds barbaric but the case for it here sounds legit ... and then you hear that vets etc are opposed and you realise it's wrong and an own goal for the SNP.

I'm sure the Tory voters on here will happily defend the practice.

 

 

[Cerberus]

Quote

However, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association welcomed the move

So it's to appease the voters in the North that moved to the Tories.

Farmers, fisherman and gamekeepers are c***s to a man.

[BallochSonsFan]

Tories want to bring back fox hunting in England? Cue SNP frothing at the mouth. SNP help re-introduce mutilation of young puppies? Move along, nothing to see.

It's barbaric and has no place in a decent society. The SNP should be utterly ashamed of this and should be taken to task.

This should be Sturgeon's own version of May's fox hunting f**k up.

[Jan Vojáček]

Animal cruelty is one of these things that makes me really angry (see also people dropping litter that then hurts wildlife), and I'm pretty shocked something like this has been supported by a party like the SNP. Just look at this quote:

Quote

"Tail docking involves severing through bone, nerve, muscle, and connective tissue when pups are less than 5 days old"

Imagine how dreadful a person you'd have to be to support that.

[Swordfishtrombone]

I always thought it was purely for cosmetic reasons and had no benefit to the dog which was why it got banned, seems a strange one. Maybe there is a benefit for gun dogs and the like but I'd tend to side with the vets on animal welfare issues.

[itzdrk]

Dugs are shite, cut their heads aff no their tails. 

[Pearbuyerbell]

4 minutes ago, itzdrk said:

Dugs are shite, cut their heads aff no their tails. 

Dogs >  You.   

[itzdrk]

Just now, Pearbuyerbell said:

Dogs >  You.   

Harsh but fair.  Really shows how shite me and dugs are.   

I expect a lot of this will be happening in #perthshire done by cyclist vets no doubt. 

[Pearbuyerbell]

Just now, itzdrk said:

Harsh but fair.  Really shows how shite me and dugs are.   

I expect a lot of this will be happening in #perthshire done by cyclist vets no doubt. 

You > cyclists. 

Vets make a decent amount of money and therefore don't need to resort to pedal poverty. 

Still the wrong decision by the SG.  

[BallochSonsFan]

I'm not sure vets cycle. These aren't the days of James Herriot

[GTG_03]

Horrific decision by the Scottish government here. I back the majority of the SNP'S policies but this is awful.

[Fide]

As above, I am of course an SNP and Nicola Sturgeon fanboy, but this is dreadful from the SNP.

[DrewDon]

If cutting Air Passenger Duty and puppies' tails isn't enough to have left-leaning Labour switchers flocking back to the SNP en masse, I don't know what is. 

In all seriousness, I have to confess that I don't know much about the precise details of this policy and that I am quite poorly informed about animal welfare issues more generally. However, this strikes me as an unnecessarily dumb move politically; it sounds cruel, most experts are opposed and voters actually quite like animals, so why do this and have to deal with the inevitable fallout?

[ICTChris]

Fair play to the SNP fanboys on here for not plumbing the depths I've seen on my Twitter feed, with people clearly having googled "Do puppies really need tails?" and then offering a defence of this policy.

[Baxter Parp]

I'm against it as much as any animal cruelty but I don't know the ins and outs of it.  Maybe they were taking the dogs over the border to get docked there? I will note that Scotland was the only place to at least ban it in the first place.

[Paco]

Pretty shameful way to chase the Tartan Tory vote, to be honest.

[Rugster]

No likey, Nicola. No likey.

[jmothecat]

Pretty shameful way to chase the Tartan Tory vote, to be honest.

I disagree with the policy but the SNP are in a bit of a tricky situation politically. Being caught between the left-leaning central belt voters they've picked up over the past five years and the traditional core support in their old rural heartlands who are on the right seems to be now causing them a few problems. They have to do something to get those voters back, though hurting puppies seems like an odd way of doing it.