Three-day-old puppy's tail hacked off
Leven, SC (UK)Incident Date: Friday, Sep 21, 2007
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
A three day old puppy had its tail hacked off, before being sealed in a bag and hurled into undergrowth to die, animal welfare officials said. The tiny rottweiler was found barely alive by a dog walker in Fife and is now recovering at a centre run by the Scottish Society for the Prevention for Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA).
The charity believes the puppy was left for dead after an illegal tail-docking went wrong. It is now concerned for the rest of the litter and is appealing for information from the public.
The puppy was found by a woman whose own dog followed the scent in Letham Wood, Leven, on Friday.
The woman, who has asked not be named, said: "I heard a whimper from a carrier bag hidden in the undergrowth. I pulled the bag out and opened it to find this puppy, a wee black ball, wrapped in a dirty rag.
"It was freezing cold and injured, so we wrapped it in a clean towel at home and tried to give it a heat. Then as soon as the vet was open, we took the puppy straight there."
The pup is now recovering at an SSPCA animal welfare centre in Dundee, where staff have named her Gretel - because she was found in the woods.
Sharon Comrie, who has cared for Gretel since her arrival, said it was a miracle that the dog survived.
She said: "This tiny pup has had its tail docked, which in itself is illegal in Scotland. But it has been carried out so drastically with scissors or a knife that there is not even a stump remaining."
Tail-docking was outlawed in Scotland this year.
Jo Wilson, a spokesman for the SSPCA, suspected the puppy was dumped after an illegal tail- docking went wrong, and she is now concerned for the rest of the litter.
She said: "Rottweilers usually have three to seven puppies and sometimes up to nine. We believe none of them are safe."
Dog-owners found guilty of tail-docking illegally can be fined up to £5,000 and given six months in jail. If unnecessary suffering has taken place, they can be fined up to £20,000 and be jailed for a year.
However, representatives of working dog associations insist puppies can still be docked in a humane way.
Sharon Brown, of the Scottish Rottweiler Club, said official breeders have accepted the ban on tail-docking. But she said there was stil
l a supply of puppies with docked tails through "back-street breeders".
She said: "Some people still believe they can buy a rottweiler puppy with a docked tail. Back-street breeders do not care."
Alex Hogg, the chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, said working dogs' tails are shortened, rather than cut to the stump like rottweiler breeds.
He argued that working dogs can be docked humanely by vets in order to protect tails.
The Scotsman revealed earlier this year that breeders of working dogs are taking pregnant bitches south of the Border so that the puppies can be docked. References
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