ALERT - Province of Nova Scotia

UPDATE AS OF MARCH19, 2010 - NS BANS CROPPING, DOCKING, & DEW CLAW REMOVAL - Today the Nova Scotia Veterinary Medical Association amended its Code of Ethics, making it illegal for any member to perform docking, cropping or dew claw removal on dogs. They continue to define these necessary procedures as purely cosmetic, with no consideration to their functional necessity in injury prevention for working canines.
The amendment comes into effect on April 1, 2010, but will not be enforced until October 1, 2010 to allow for an implementation period.

UPDATE AS OF JANUARY 2010 - Bill 186, the New Animal Protection Act for Nova Scotia,was proclaimed on January 10th, 2010.The act was proclaimed as the same version that passed third reading in November 2008. After 13 months of deliberations in committee, there were no additions to the regulations. The only thing different is that the Appeal Board will be proclaimed at a later date. There were also minimum regulations drafted to address the minimum qualifications for hiring the Chief Inspector for the SPCA. We can count this as a victory as the motion presented by the SPCA was not added to the regulations. Of course amendments can be added down the road but at this point, the Bill does not address the issue of cropping,docking,dew claw removal or debarking.

UPDATE AS OF NOVEMBER 2009 - The NSVMA had a discussion at their AGM on the topic of cropping, docking and dew claw removal. Also considered were debarking and all procedures they consider "cosmetic". From our sources we understand it was a heated debate and a decision was put on hold to canvas all members of the NSVMA to see how they felt on this issue. Regardless of the outcome of the issue. the "Council" can still make their own decision. They have the power to do so. This is still very much a real possibility and we do not have a time frame for the canvas of members to be completed.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In 2008 the NS Legislature introduced Bill 186, a new Animal Protection Bill. Among other things it gave the SPCA total control over cruelty investigations for domestic animals in the province and left farm animals under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture. This Bill passed the first and second reading and was sent to the Law Amendments Committee in November prior to the third and final reading. At this meeting the SPCA introduced a motion that included this statement:

"Lastly and in summary, the specific changes to the proposed Act that the NS SPCA is seeking are as follows: 1. The NS SPCA would like to see a provision to the Act that makes it illegal for any person in Nova Scotia to alter an animal for cosmetic purposes specifically, docking of tails, cropping of ears, declawing, or removing vocal cords. "

Full SPCA presentation may be read here: http://www.spcans.ca/news/documents/LawAmendmentsSubmission.pdf

The purebred dog community responded to this motion with a flurry of emails and phone calls and the amendment were not added to the Bill. The Bill passed as read and the regulations that define the Bill were sent to committee for definition. Dr; Leighann Hartnett was placed in charge of the committee. To date 11 months later the committee has not finalized the regulations. The SPCA amendment is still being considered.

The NS Veterinary Medical Association has added the topic of cropping, docking and dew claw removal to their October AGM. We managed to put a similar discussion by the PEIVMA on hold at their spring 2008 AGM. We have discovered they will revisit the issue In November 2009 with a May 2010 target date. Our immediate concern is the NSVMA and we will mount another email and letter campaign to the member vets.

For a list of people to contact to voice your opinion on this topic "click here"

For sample letters "click here"