DOCKING AND NICKING OF HORSES (PROHIBITION). (Hansard, 12 July 1939)

§ Sir Ralph Glyn

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to prevent the docking and nicking of horses and importation of docked and nicked horses. It will be unnecessary to take up the time of the House by any lengthy argument. It is, I think, sufficient to say that a similar Bill passed through all its stages in another place last Session and that it was during the progress of the Bill in another place that certain Amendments were made which the promoters of this Bill intend to adopt. The actual operation of docking under the Animals (Anaesthetics) Act of 1919 is happily now illegal, unless performed by a veterinary surgeon, and at the time the animal must be completely subject to the anaesthetic. I want to make it clear that that part of it has been met. But what has not been met is the subsequent torture that animals undoubtedly go through after having been docked when they are out at rest and are subject to the vexation of flies and so on.

We further contend that docking is unnecessary. It has been said that it is fashionable, but at this time it is impossible to feel that one ought to stand for any fashion in which any cruelty is involved. Fashions of the past must disappear if they are bought at such a high price. The only excuse that can be given, as far as I can make out, apart from that of fashion, is that it takes more time to keep an animal clean. In other words that is giving way to laziness and I do not think that it is a sufficient excuse. The other point is that in the anatomy of the horse the fly muscle, as it is called, is by nature extended only halfway down the length of the animal, and nature has ordained that the tail of a horse in its natural state shall be used for keeping off flies and noxious insects from the rest of its body. Hon. Members will recall that when in the country on a hot day or in thundery weather they have seen horses standing head to tail, which is nature's way of 2254 helping co-operative effort to keep the animals free of flies. If, therefore, you dock the tail and the flies sting, the animals get impatient, they stamp, they get fretful and in time the experience breaks down their nervous system and makes them ill-tempered.

I feel, therefore, that in asking the House to agree to the introduction of this Bill we are only setting right something which every country in Europe has adopted, and the fact that there are fewer horses in no way removes the responsibility that we have to see that the horses that remain lead happy and natural lives. The Bill is a short one, and I venture to hope that it will have the unanimous support of the House. The first Clause is one for prohibition of docking. The second Clause provides that there shall be a certificate obtained from a veterinary surgeon if the health of the horse is affected, for instance by some breaking of the vertebrae of the tail which makes it necessary to remove it, or if there has been some disease developed in the tail; in other words, docking in future will be part and parcel of veterinary science for health reasons and health reasons alone. The third Clause is a penalty Clause, which involves a £25 fine or three months' imprisonment. The fourth Clause deals with the importation of animals, and there are certain Amendments which were moved in another place relating to circus horses, animals for stage purposes, and so on. The fifth Clause is the definition Clause, the sixth is the short title, and the seventh proposes that the Act shall come into force on 1st January, 1940.

That, in brief, is what the promoters propose to ask the House to pass. We feel that the Bill will get rid of an ugly, cruel and, indeed, vulgar custom. In conclusion, I would say that in these days when we look round the world there is enough sorrow and suffering and indeed cruelty and I think we should remember that horses serve man, that they are gentle and obedient animals and that the least we can do to dumb creatures is to give 2255 them that treatment for which this country has always been famous. In March at Munich, at a conference of the veterinary services of Europe, it was unanimously agreed that these proposals should be made law. Owing to the rapidity of the passage of laws in totalitarian countries Germany has already adopted the proposals, and I very much regret that we have to be a little bit behind owing to the nature of our procedure. All I ask now is that we should make up for lost time, and I ask the House to give permission for the Bill to be introduced.