The Scottish Gamekeepers Association has taken a petition to the Scottish parliament calling for a reversal of the ban on docking the tails of working dogs, which was brought in in 2007.
The ban to tail docking in England and Wales features an exemption for working dogs, due to the risk of tail injury when working in thick undergrowth. Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP party, had stated at an SGA annual general meeting that an SNP-led government would reverse the tail docking ban for working dogs if there was evidence to support the change.
The SGA is understood to be waiting for research from Glasgow University to be published to support the case for the reversal of the ban, which is expected to show that, of working spaniels surveyed in a season, 56 per cent of them had suffered at least one injury to the tail. This can often lead to amputation, which is a lengthier and more involved procedure than docking the tail of a pup when it is 2-3 days old.
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