Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to tackle the (a) cropping of dogs ears and (b) importation of dogs with cropped ears.

Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 it is already an offence in England and Wales to carry out non-exempted mutilations on dogs, this includes the cropping of dog’s ears.

In August 2021, we consulted on proposed changes to the commercial and non-commercial movements of pets into Great Britain including the importation of dogs with cropped ears.

We are carefully reviewing the feedback from our consultation and wider engagement with stakeholders, and a summary will be published in due course.