Electric Shock Collar Ban
The Welsh Assembly has been asked to approve an electric shock collar ban. This is the final hurdle for Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) (Wales) Regulation [.doc] that Rural Affairs Minister, Elin Jones first introduced back in 2008.
The ban is the first of its kind in the UK and follows a third consultation on the draft legislation. The majority of the responses to all three consultations supported the view that electronic collars should not be used.
The original proposal included a number of exemptions to the ban. All have now been removed with the exceptions of use in some clinical situations and by the police using tasers.
With a penalty of up to one year in prison and/or a level 5 fine, the new regulation will make it prohibited for anyone to:
(a) attach an electronic device to a cat or a dog;
(b) cause an electronic device to be attached to a cat or a dog; or
(c) be responsible for a cat or a dog to which an electronic device is attached.
So far there has been no response from the Electronic Collar Manufacturers Association, (ECMA) . However, writing in the Western Mail today, reporter Sally Williams said that the police and local government had concerns about how a ban would be enforced. Questions have been raised over the extra funding needed, and the risks faced by the police in removing collars from dogs.
Wayne Baker, secretary of the South Wales Police Federation, told the paper:
"I think the ban should be enforced at the point of sale, rather than expecting police officers to remove the collars."
But a point of sale ban would not prevent purchases over the Internet, where shock collars are widely advertised. The book-selling giant Amazon currently lists a number of shock collars for sale. Since it is famous for its customer reviews, I've taken the liberty of reprinting a couple here:
P. Patton of Ireland writes:
"The collar works well. I've used it on my boisterous Highland Terrier and it's doing a good job stopping his "howling / barking" problem. The only thing I can fault it on is the battery life. The 6volt battery lasts about a week. I've gone through three batteries already in just over three weeks. So if you can get a rechargable battery - it will definately save you a few euros."
'Mooney' from Norfolk:
I bought one of these for each of my four dogs who set each other off barking and its hard to stop them. The collie got the message straight away and now only needs to hear the sound and she stops. Unfortunately the 3 cocker spaniels don't respond well, after the first shock one started yelping at the pain which meant she kept on getting shocked this started the other dogs off who were making her collar shock even more, really scary. I thought she would have a heart attack. So you need to know what your dogs nature is, not for the more sensitive breeds and not a good idea for more than one dog as another dog barking will set off a collar on one who may not be barking.
I don't expect we will be seeing any self-incriminating reviews from Amazon's Welsh customers in the near future.