ONE hundred working dogs and their handlers will be lobbying parliament to protest at proposals to ban the docking of working dogs' tails under the Animal Welfare Bill.
The lobby will meet MPs and deliver letters to Downing Street and to Margaret Beckett at Defra at noon on Thursday, February 8.
Early docking prevents the risk of serious injury to dogs used to retrieve game and track injured deer and by dogs used to detect drugs, explosives and trapped disaster victims and, according to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, should be exempt from a ban on docking, provided a vet is willing to certify that the procedure is in the animal's best interests.
"Failure to exempt working dogs will cause unnecessary suffering and mean more dogs facing the amputation of injured tails later in life," said BASC spokesman Simon Clarke.
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