Tail Wagging The Dog
Do you remember the children’s nursery rhyme that spoke of all the delicious things little girls were made of, but contrasted it with what little boys were made of? “What are little boys made of? Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails”. I never gave much thought to what happened to the puppy dog tails until recently in Parliament when we had to decide a Bill entitled, the Cruelty to Animals, Dog Tail docking Amendment.
Talk about the tail wagging the dog! With all the crises in education, the transport system, the health system where some of our public hospitals have reported a significant number of unexplained deaths, the police service demoralised after the Redfern riots, what brought hundreds of emails and letters to my desk, had to do with the docking of puppy dogs tails.
I listened carefully to the experts from the RSPCA and the Veterinary Associations, from the dog breeders and showers and some experts in animal pain. I found I had to make a decision on an issue that had not been on the forefront of my mind. I made that decision, and it was an important decision, because without the vote of Rev Fred Nile and myself, the Bill would not have passed. I explained why I supported the ban of tail docking, in spite of hearing the expert breeders explain how long tails looked second rate, why our export of breeding dogs would decline, and why puppies do not feel pain.
I said:
“On behalf of the Christian Democratic Party I indicate that we will support the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Amendment (Tail Docking) Bill. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 to limit the docking of dogs’ tails to veterinarians, and then only when it is in the interests of the welfare of the dog.
We, likewise, have been lobbied by some very fine people who are interested in animal welfare and animal rights, and who come down on both sides of the argument.
Currently in New South Wales the docking of a dog’s tail is allowed to be performed by any person if the dog is under five days of age. We have seen this, although not in recent years, done by people who breed their own puppies and those who have puppies as result of a dog becoming pregnant. Many breeds of dogs are routinely tail docked within days of birth.
The bill seeks, on the encouragement of the RSPCA and others, to eliminate cruelty to animals. We have received many emails and letters saying that the RSPCA does not have the right to do this, that it exists to care for the welfare of animals.
But I would argue that the RSPCA has an advocacy role on behalf of prevention of cruelty to animals, and I accept what it is doing. The bill prevents the routine or cosmetic tail docking of puppies only. It limits tail docking to veterinarians only, and it ensures that the operation is performed only when the welfare interests of the dog are being served, not for cosmetic purposes.
A number of reasons appeal strongly to us to support the bill. One is that the bill makes concessions if a dog is injured. As previous speakers mentioned, injuries are usually caused by the dog’s tail being caught in slammed doors of cars. I understand that only 0.4 per cent of dogs present with such an injury, which would require tail docking.
The second reason we support the bill is that tail docking seems to have no clear benefit for the dog. Many people argue that small dogs do not feel pain, but I remember doing experiments at university with even the smallest kind of life, such as amoeba. When we deliberately created stimuli and pain the amoeba, even though it took a long time, reacted to pain. Even the most primitive form of life can feel pain.
We have listened to Professor Bob Hales and others talk about the problem of pain, but we are quite sure that in most cases the dogs feel pain. Leaving aside the pain there is still the likelihood of infection when ordinary instruments are used to dock the tails of dogs.
I have in my possession at home a very sharp folding penknife given to me by my grandfather. When I was about 10 he instructed me to always keep it clean because it was the knife I should use when I was fixing cats. I admit that I have never used the knife to fix cats, but if those types of instruments that are neither sterile nor clean are used infection can occur.
I believe there is a difference with pigs and lambs. I have asked the professor and others about this and they tell me that there are clear scientific reasons for de-tailing pigs and lambs, particularly when they are fly blown.
We note that in 10 countries it is illegal to dock dogs or to show docked dogs. It is quite appropriate that Australia should line up with those countries. I note that breeders will continue to seek to have tails docked.
Some people who came to see us expressed the view that because there is availability in both Western Australia and the Northern Territory under regulations to dock dogs they will send their dogs to Western Australia. They claim that they already send scores of dogs to Western Australia and the Northern Territory every single week for various purposes, and it would be no trouble for them to have the procedures done in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. This seemed to us to be a very curious line of argument.
There is community support for the bill, even though the majority of written material I have received came from those who breed and show dogs, and who are members of the Canine Council.
I know that they are heavily committed to having their dogs’ tails docked. We listened with respect to their viewpoint, but we support the principle of prevention of cruelty to animals.”
The Bill narrowly passed on our votes. Now it is illegal to dock dog tails or to show dogs with docked tails. But do you think the dog breeders have accepted this meekly? I have received a barrage of hate mail with wrongful allegations about us. We simply listened to the best presented evidence and voted to prevent unnecessary pain to man’s best friends. Talk about the tail wagging the dog!
This is GORDON MOYES.