Environment Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 15 November 2007.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to ban the sale of electric shock training devices for dogs; and if he will make a statement.
There are no plans at present to ban the sale and use of 'electric shock collars'.
DEFRA has recognised that further research into these types of collars is a priority and a study, based on observation of collars already in use, has been commissioned. This is due to be completed in 2010.
DEFRA has also asked the Companion Animal Welfare Council, a key advisory body for government on companion animal welfare matters, to undertake an independent study of the available evidence on the use of these electronic training aids. This will help to inform policy development and complement the DEFRA-funded study.
All research into these areas commissioned by government will be put into the public domain after the study is complete.
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 provides powers to prohibit or ban the use of any equipment in England and Wales in relation to animals. This can be done through secondary legislation, if considered necessary.
I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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Annotations
Garry Sheen
Posted on 16 Nov 2007 10:58 pm (Report this annotation)
If the Minister considers a three-year wait for the outcome of research to be a reasonable period of time, and considered a 'priority', I wonder how long a low-priority matter would take?
Garry Sheen
Jasmijn de Boo
Posted on 18 Nov 2007 4:34 pm (Report this annotation)
I agree with Mr Sheen. Existing scientific evidence already shows that shock collars cause stress and pain. For example Schilder and Van der Borg (2004) concluded that:
"[...] being trained is stressful, that receiving shocks is a painful experience to dogs, and that the S-dogs [dogs that had received shocks in the recent past] evidently have learned that the presence of their owner (or his commands) announces reception of shocks, even outside of the normal training context. This suggests that the welfare of these shocked dogs is at stake, at least in the presence of their owner."
Animals Count (www.animalscount.org), a political party for animals, would ban the use of shock collars immediately on welfare grounds.
Jasmijn de Boo, BSc. (Hons), MSc., DipEd
Chair Animals Count
Roger Inkpen
Posted on 18 Nov 2007 11:09 pm (Report this annotation)
I must say I was unaware of such dog collars. When we had a dog as a child, he was always straining against the 'choker' chain. At the time we thought he would see sense and stop tugging against it. But he never did. Now it seems absurdly cruel.
Although Mike is my MP, and of my party, I am not as obsessed as I think Mike is on animal issues, e.g. hunting, animal testing. But this seems like a rather OTT method of dog training. It may be no more harmful than an electric fence to cattle, but still seems wide of the mark as far as training methods go.
Also agree with Mr Sheen - if the govt really thought this a priority, it would not be left for 3 years or more.