CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #13407 Rating: 1.0 out of 5
Illegal tail docking
Perthshire, SC (UK)Incident Date: Friday, Sep 14, 2007
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: William Fotheringham
A farmer has been fined £500 for docking the tails of five puppies in one of the first cases of its kind.
William Fotheringham, 37, was prosecuted after arranging to have the tails removed from the three-day old Jack Russells on his Perthshire farm.
The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which reported the incident, welcomed the conviction.
Fotheringham, who was convicted under the law introduced last April, said he was acting in the dogs' best interest.
At Perth Sheriff Court, he admitted causing a prohibited procedure to be carried out on the animals at Bankhead Farm in Forteviot on 14 September last year.
Procurator fiscal Helen Nisbet said: "The SSPCA received an anonymous report regarding the fact that animals were being advertised for sale so they visited the farm.
"They saw the puppies and found these had been docked in contravention of the legislation."
Fotheringham had never denied he had the tail docking carried out.
He told investigators that someone had come to his home to complete the procedure.
Giving Fotheringham a £500 fine, Sheriff Richard McFarlane said: "It is a practice which has gone on for a good while and the legislation has revisited the whole question."
Outside court, Fotheringham said: "I did not do it for cosmetic reasons. It is done for welfare reasons.
"I use the dogs for ratting and foxes and if they are running about the tail is the first thing a rat or fox will take hold of.
"If I had known it was against the law I would not have done it. It seems pretty ridiculous. I was very surprised to be prosecuted."
A spokesman for the SSPCA welcomed the prosecution under the fledgling legislation and described the £500 fine as "appropriate".
She added: "Docking tails has nothing to do with welfare. In Georgian times a tax was introduced on working dogs with tails, and that is when docking started.
"Tails are very important for dogs as they use them to communicate with each other. We are glad to see it being highlighted with cases like this coming to court."
Working dogs are exempt from the tail docking legislation south of the border, but the law applies to all dogs in Scotland. References
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