Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of ear cropping of dogs were (a) reported, (b) investigated and (c) charged in 2022.
The Home Office collects information on the number of offences of ‘Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited procedure on a protected animal’ and ‘Removing or causing or permitting or failing to prevent removal of dog’s tail other than for medical Treatment’. and their investigative outcomes, recorded by the police in England and Wales, on a quarterly basis. The latest information is available up to the end of September 2022.
This shows that there were 2 offences of ‘Carrying out, permitting, causing to be carried out or failing to prevent prohibited procedure on a protected animal’ offences recorded in the first nine months of 2022. Both of these cases resulted in the investigation being complete with no suspect identified.
There have been no offences of ‘Removing or causing or permitting or failing to prevent removal of dog’s tail other than for medical Treatment’ recorded in the first nine months of 2022.