This month the mainly French –speaking province of Quebec will join seven other provinces in banning such practices as ear cropping and tail docking of dogs, horses, and cattle.
Commonly practiced on certain breeds of dogs for example, tail docking is the amputation of most of a dog’s tail, while ear cropping trims off a large portions of what are generally floppy ears, to become small upright pointed ears.
Starting this month, Quebec veterinarians will no longer be permitted to perform the surgeries.
The Quebec order of veterinarians say the practice goes against the well-being of animals.
Quoted by the CBC, Dr. Karen Joy Goldenberg, a veterinarian at the Pierrefonds Animal Hospital said, “Tail docking is actually an amputation. You’re cutting off multiple vertebrae with all of the nerves and tissue around it. Same idea for the ears. Cropping the ears, you’re basically cutting half of the ear off with its cartilage, just to give the ear a specific shape”.
There are about 50 breeds of dogs that are commonly “cropped” and/or “docked”. This includes Dobermans, boxers, spaniels, schnauzers, certain terriers and pitbulls, poodles, and others.
Breeders have often complained that the ban will mean people may go underground to get the surgery with far riskier results. They also say that because “show” standards expect such a look they will no longer be able to show dogs, and the value of their dogs will go down.
Alberta and Ontario are the only provinces still without such a ban. Although the respective veterinary associations oppose the practice in principle, decisions on whether to perform the surgery or not is still up to individual veterinarians in those provinces
Additional information – sources
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