Scotland's Minister Backs Dog Tail Docking Ban

Environment Minister Ross Finnie has defended plans to outlaw the docking of dogs tails in Scotland.

Mr Finnie was speaking as MSPs debated the general principles of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill.

At the same time countryside campaigners - accompanied by several working dogs - gathered outside Holyrood to protest against the total ban.

They argued that working dogs should be exempt - as ministers had originally planned - because they can injure their tails working in thick undergrowth.

And this, they say, causes more pain and suffering to the animals than docking.

But Mr Finnie explained: "The docking of dogs tails is a controversial practice, currently permissible in law when undertaken by a veterinary surgeon.

"We proposed initially to exempt working dogs from this ban. However, we have been persuaded by the evidence provided that this exemption is not necessary and I intend to prohibit the tail docking of all dogs."

And he told MSPs that the British Veterinary Association were wholeheartedly behind such a move.