Ear cropping cases increase by 2,000 per cent, RSPCA reveals
A law banning the import of dogs with cropped ears failed to make it through Parliament before the UK general election.
The RSPCA has released statistics that reveal that ear cropping cases have increased by 2,000 per cent in the past decade.
The animal welfare charity recorded that it received 315 reports of ear cropping in 2023, compared to just 14 reports in 2015.
These statistics have been released as part of the RSPCA’s ‘No Animal Deserves Cruelty’ campaign. The RSPCA hopes to raise awareness of the harm that ear cropping causes and support the work of its welfare officers as they respond to incidents.
Ear cropping is an unnecessary and illegal procedure in which a dog’s ear flap is altered or removed, sometimes with scissors and knives. The RSPCA believes that the procedure is mainly performed to make the dogs look ‘tough’.
Many cases involve irresponsible breeders wanting to sell the dogs at a higher price.
As well as the significant welfare implications of the unsafe practice, cropping a dog’s ears also removes a key form of their communication.
The procedure is illegal in England and Wales under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. However, legal loopholes mean that dogs with cropped ears are still being imported into the country.
It is also still possible to purchase DIY ear cropping kits online through international retailers that ship to the UK. These retailers also sell ‘ear straightening kits’ which, although they don’t specifically require a dog’s ears to be cropped, increase demand for dogs with cropped ears and can compromise their welfare.
The RSPCA discovered that video tutorials ‘demonstrating’ the dangerous procedure were easily accessible online.
However, the charity says that the majority of cases involve dogs which have been sent abroad for the procedure or imported deliberately from countries with different animal welfare laws.
As part of the Kept Animals Bill, the previous UK government pledged to ban the import of dogs with cropped ears. Although the legislation was then dropped, the plans were revived in a new Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill.
This law failed to make it through Parliament before the UK general election.
The RSPCA is now calling for people to write to their MPs to call for an urgent change in the law.
Emma Slawkinski, the RSPCA’s director of campaigns, said: “Dogs should never be mutilated for cosmetic purposes and, while this practice has been illegal in this country for a long, long time, we’d like to see more regulation to ensure that it’s no longer possible to get a cropped dog in England and Wales, unless rescuing through a reputable organisation.”
Image © The RSPCA
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