Animal Welfare Bill

I am interested in what the hon. Gentleman has said, which carries some weight, although I have discovered that my rural vets are in favour of the status quo. Much misinformation has been put out by the Anti-Docking Alliance, the League against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA. I intervened on the excellent speech by my hon. Friend the Member for Leominster (Bill Wiggin), who went into this matter in great detail, and asked him about the e-mailed photographs that we have all received, some of which were quite disgraceful. They showed docked dogs with tails lying on the ground and older dogs that had been docked by amateurs. All those dockings would have been completely against the law. One must keep stressing the point that it has been illegal for the past 15 years or so for individual dog owners to dock a dog. It has to be done by a vet. The issue of pain was discussed at some length. The hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac) made a long speech and, to be fair, took a lot of interventions. I do not know whether she has seen a puppy being docked.