Annual Report 2000 - Australian Veterinary Association

AVA Activities - First Tail Docking BanThe year saw a dramatic breakthrough in the AVA’s long-running efforts to see cosmetictail docking in dogs banned in Australia – the nation’s first such law took affect in the ACT.We played a critical role in the unanimous decision by the ACT legislative Assembly tointroduce its ban, through AVA’s nationwide campaign in January to rally communitysupport for the draft legislation.There had been a traditional belief in political circles that such a lawwould be more trouble than it was worth to politicians, who hadbelieved that the pro-docking breeder groups were a potent politicalforce. The reality was that they were actually a very vocal rumpwhose "voice" had for years been much louder than its numberswarranted.The decision by the ACT Minister for Urban Services, Mr BrendanSmyth, to overhaul the national capital’s laws for urban animalcontrol and animal welfare provided the opportunity for the AVAcampaign to show what could be achieved.Mr Smyth placed his package of new and revised laws, known as"SCAMPS", on public display for two months to allow all interestedparties to have their say on the proposals before they weresubmitted to a vote in the Assembly.The AVA issued a series of supporting media releases aroundAustralia – and a detailed information sheet explaining why dockingwas both cruel and unnecessary. We arranged for anti-dockingsegments to be presented on the Nine Network’s national Todayprogram, as well as a long list of radio talkback shows in all parts ofAustralia. Extensive newspaper coverage was also arranged,including a massive front page story in the Canberra Times with aphotograph showing two dogs of the one breed – one docked andthe other in its natural state.The AVA campaign also involved personal lobbying of ACT MLAs,especially the Labor Opposition because of the obvious benefits forthe cause if they could be convinced to join with the LiberalGovernment in the ultimate vote to decide the issue. (During thiscampaign came the news of a pledge by the WA Labor Oppositionthat it would introduce a ban on cosmetic tail docking if it won the2001 election in that State).The ACT Division of the AVA, combined with RSPCA Canberra, toorganise a public rally on February 29 – the last day for publiccomment on the draft legislation.About 200 people attended the rally, many with their own undockeddogs. The event attracted considerable media attention in the ACT,including a desperate (and very large) advertisement in theCanberra Times in which the pro-docker breeders told a series of liesabout the AVA and our campaign. It urged a huge roll-up at thepublic rally in an effort to “thwart” the supposedly evil intentions ofthe AVA and the ACT Government in denying them the right tocontinue to hack off the tails of their dogs.The advertisement proved a very expensive flop. Only 12 prodockersattended the rally, again confirming that this group insociety talks very loudly but is not in any way representative of thereal views of the community once people are made aware of theissue of tail docking and why it should stop.The impact of that photograph was immense and we subsequentlygained permission from the newspaper to use it on the cover of AVA’supdated anti-docking brochure.The campaign demonstrated to politicians in Canberra – andelsewhere – that the pro-dockers are actually a very smallproportion of the wider community. It also showed beyond doubtthat they were poorly organised and, most important, had nothingof any substance to say in trying to defend their supposed “right” tomutilate dogs so they meet man-made breed “standards”.Mr Smyth’s office received hundreds of genuine letters (we askedpeople to spontaneously write about their views on docking - andrefused to arrange a “form” letter for this purpose) urging that thepractice be banned. The pro-dockers, with all their alleged resources,managed to submit only a tiny handful of letters.AVA President. Dr Ian Denney, and ACT Minister for Urban Services,Mr Brendan Smyth, celebrate their joint launch of Australia's first lawbanning cosmetic tail docking.2000 Annual Report - Australian Veterinary Association 35