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Docking (animal)
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Docking (animal)
Docking is the intentional removal of part of an animal's tail or, sometimes, ears. The term cropping is more commonly used in reference to the cropping of ears, while docking more commonly—but not exclusively—refers to the tail; the term tailing is used, also. The term has its origins in the living flesh of the tail, commonly known as the dock, from which the animal's tail hairs grow.
Tail-docking in pigs is typically carried out without anesthetic when the piglet is three to four days old, causing acute trauma and pain. Commercially raised domestic pigs kept in close quarters have their tails docked to prevent chewing or biting each other's tails. Pig producers in Brazil and Thailand have stopped tail docking for animal welfare reasons. Routine tail-docking without anesthesia has been illegal in the EU since 1994. The Council Directive 2008/120/EC of 18 December 2008 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs prohibited all tail-docking of pigs in the EU. Finland and Sweden have banned and eliminated tail-docking on the member state level, but in the rest of the EU, routine illegal tail-docking of pigs has been continuing with impunity, as pig farmers argue that they do not manage to prevent tail-biting by implementing recommended measures.
Many breeds of sheep have their tails docked to reduce the risk of fly strike. Mulesing is also used for that purpose. Docking also makes it easier to view a grown ewe's udders to detect potential problems.
While tail docking is an effective preventive method in some cases, if it is not carried out correctly it may result in other problems such as ill thrift or rectal prolapse. In lambs, tail docking at the distal end of the caudal folds tends to minimize docking effects on incidence of rectal prolapse. Docking at that length has been recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association. In the UK, the law states that for sheep, docked tails should at a minimum cover the anus in male lambs, and the vulva in female lambs. These minimum lengths are also recommended in Canada.
Depending on the animal and the culture, docking may be done by cutting (knife or other blade), searing (gas or electrically heated searing iron), or constriction methods, i.e. rubber ring elastration. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association indicates that pain, stress, recovery time and complications associated with docking of livestock will be minimized by docking when animals are under one week of age. However, docking of lambs within 24 hours of birth is not recommended, as it may interfere with ingestion of colostrum and/or formation of the maternal bond. In the UK the law requires that docking on sheep using constriction methods must be performed within the first week of the animal's life. The UK Farm Animal Welfare Council has noted that this limitation can be problematic in management of hill flocks where normal practice is to handle lambs as little as possible during the first week "to avoid mis-mothering, mis-adventure and injury."
Many breeds of wild sheep naturally have short tails and do not require docking. Sheep having such long tails at all is more a byproduct of human selective breeding over centuries to favor sheep with more wool to shear and sell, which had the additional unintended effect of favoring long, wooly tails as well. With demand for wool remaining depressed with the rise of competitor fibers for clothing, there has been more interest in possibly reversing this unintentional shift, as a sheep's wool has become a comparatively smaller portion of its value. Various projects have researched breeding or using gene editing for shorter tails, which would lessen the need for docking.
As with other domesticated animals, there is a long history of docking the tails of dogs. It is understood to date at least to Ancient Greece. The most popular reason for docking dog breeds is to prevent injury to working dogs. In hunting dogs, the tail is docked to prevent it from getting cut up as the dog wags its tail in the brush. This is contested by a wide range of groups and is sometimes considered a form of animal cruelty. This has led to the practice being outlawed and made illegal throughout many countries, in some of which dogs are no longer bred for work, or used as working animals.
For example, in eighteenth-century England, tail docking became conventional following the implementation of a tax levied against non-working dogs (a docked tail designated status as a working dog). The push for industry regulation, characteristic of the twentieth-century UK, culminated in the passage of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966. Therein, tail docking was explicitly declared to be legal and exempt from regulation when performed by persons of or over the age of eighteen—notably before the dog opens its eyes in infancy. A 1991 amendment to the act by Parliament enacted a prohibition of the docking of dogs' tails by lay persons from 1 July 1993 onward—thus abridging the practice to veterinary surgeons only. The passage of this amendment resulted in a response from the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, when in November 1992 the group ruled docking to be unethical "unless for therapeutic or acceptable prophylactic reasons". Critics highlighted that the imperatives, posited by the Royal College, for prophylactic docking were so strict that they made the routine docking of puppies by veterinary surgeons extremely difficult to near impossible. Veterinarians who presently exercise tail docking risk disciplinary action, and can be removed from the professional register. Those found guilty of unlawful docking would face a fine of up to £20,000, up to 51 weeks imprisonment or both. They can only dock the tail of "working" dogs (in some specific cases) – e.g. hunting dogs that work in areas thick in brambles and heavy vegetation where the dog's tail can get caught and cause injury to the dog. Docking was banned in England and Wales by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and in Scotland by the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, with exceptions in England and Wales for dogs under 5 days old of specified breeds bred for specified working purposes, and for medical reasons.
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Docking (animal)
Docking is the intentional removal of part of an animal's tail or, sometimes, ears. The term cropping is more commonly used in reference to the cropping of ears, while docking more commonly—but not exclusively—refers to the tail; the term tailing is used, also. The term has its origins in the living flesh of the tail, commonly known as the dock, from which the animal's tail hairs grow.
Tail-docking in pigs is typically carried out without anesthetic when the piglet is three to four days old, causing acute trauma and pain. Commercially raised domestic pigs kept in close quarters have their tails docked to prevent chewing or biting each other's tails. Pig producers in Brazil and Thailand have stopped tail docking for animal welfare reasons. Routine tail-docking without anesthesia has been illegal in the EU since 1994. The Council Directive 2008/120/EC of 18 December 2008 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs prohibited all tail-docking of pigs in the EU. Finland and Sweden have banned and eliminated tail-docking on the member state level, but in the rest of the EU, routine illegal tail-docking of pigs has been continuing with impunity, as pig farmers argue that they do not manage to prevent tail-biting by implementing recommended measures.
Many breeds of sheep have their tails docked to reduce the risk of fly strike. Mulesing is also used for that purpose. Docking also makes it easier to view a grown ewe's udders to detect potential problems.
While tail docking is an effective preventive method in some cases, if it is not carried out correctly it may result in other problems such as ill thrift or rectal prolapse. In lambs, tail docking at the distal end of the caudal folds tends to minimize docking effects on incidence of rectal prolapse. Docking at that length has been recommended by the American Veterinary Medical Association. In the UK, the law states that for sheep, docked tails should at a minimum cover the anus in male lambs, and the vulva in female lambs. These minimum lengths are also recommended in Canada.
Depending on the animal and the culture, docking may be done by cutting (knife or other blade), searing (gas or electrically heated searing iron), or constriction methods, i.e. rubber ring elastration. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association indicates that pain, stress, recovery time and complications associated with docking of livestock will be minimized by docking when animals are under one week of age. However, docking of lambs within 24 hours of birth is not recommended, as it may interfere with ingestion of colostrum and/or formation of the maternal bond. In the UK the law requires that docking on sheep using constriction methods must be performed within the first week of the animal's life. The UK Farm Animal Welfare Council has noted that this limitation can be problematic in management of hill flocks where normal practice is to handle lambs as little as possible during the first week "to avoid mis-mothering, mis-adventure and injury."
Many breeds of wild sheep naturally have short tails and do not require docking. Sheep having such long tails at all is more a byproduct of human selective breeding over centuries to favor sheep with more wool to shear and sell, which had the additional unintended effect of favoring long, wooly tails as well. With demand for wool remaining depressed with the rise of competitor fibers for clothing, there has been more interest in possibly reversing this unintentional shift, as a sheep's wool has become a comparatively smaller portion of its value. Various projects have researched breeding or using gene editing for shorter tails, which would lessen the need for docking.
As with other domesticated animals, there is a long history of docking the tails of dogs. It is understood to date at least to Ancient Greece. The most popular reason for docking dog breeds is to prevent injury to working dogs. In hunting dogs, the tail is docked to prevent it from getting cut up as the dog wags its tail in the brush. This is contested by a wide range of groups and is sometimes considered a form of animal cruelty. This has led to the practice being outlawed and made illegal throughout many countries, in some of which dogs are no longer bred for work, or used as working animals.
For example, in eighteenth-century England, tail docking became conventional following the implementation of a tax levied against non-working dogs (a docked tail designated status as a working dog). The push for industry regulation, characteristic of the twentieth-century UK, culminated in the passage of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966. Therein, tail docking was explicitly declared to be legal and exempt from regulation when performed by persons of or over the age of eighteen—notably before the dog opens its eyes in infancy. A 1991 amendment to the act by Parliament enacted a prohibition of the docking of dogs' tails by lay persons from 1 July 1993 onward—thus abridging the practice to veterinary surgeons only. The passage of this amendment resulted in a response from the Council of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, when in November 1992 the group ruled docking to be unethical "unless for therapeutic or acceptable prophylactic reasons". Critics highlighted that the imperatives, posited by the Royal College, for prophylactic docking were so strict that they made the routine docking of puppies by veterinary surgeons extremely difficult to near impossible. Veterinarians who presently exercise tail docking risk disciplinary action, and can be removed from the professional register. Those found guilty of unlawful docking would face a fine of up to £20,000, up to 51 weeks imprisonment or both. They can only dock the tail of "working" dogs (in some specific cases) – e.g. hunting dogs that work in areas thick in brambles and heavy vegetation where the dog's tail can get caught and cause injury to the dog. Docking was banned in England and Wales by the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and in Scotland by the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, with exceptions in England and Wales for dogs under 5 days old of specified breeds bred for specified working purposes, and for medical reasons.