The owner of a puppy found with cropped ears has been issued a five year ban from owning any pets.
Mohammad Tofiq Sadiq, 27, admitted to hacking off five-month-old puppy Kilo’s ears and causing unnecessary suffering to the dog.
The Scottish SPCA raided Sadiq’s home in April 2022 after a concerned neighbour raised the alarm.
After the pup’s bloodied ears were discovered, Sadiq claimed the American pocket bully had its ears cropped by a previous owner.
Sadiq told SSPCA staff that Kilo had not been taken to see a veterinarian, but had instead been cleaning the dog’s ears with salt water and giving him paracetamol.
After Kilo was taken to a vet by the SSPCA, it was revealed his ear wounds were still fresh.
And after scanning for a microchip, the veterinarian was able to contact Kilo’s previous owner – who confirmed the dog’s ears had been intact when he was sold.
A SSPCA spokesperson said: ‘Due to concerns for Kilo’s welfare, we immediately removed him from the premises and took him to a veterinary practice to be examined.
‘The vet stated that due to how fresh the wounds appeared to be, they believed the procedure had been carried out within the last seven to 10 days.
‘Kilo was given anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the swelling and pain the wounds would have been causing.
‘We then took Kilo to one of our animal rescue and rehoming centres where he could receive the ongoing medical care he needed.’
Ear cropping involves removing the dog’s ear flaps, in hopes dog’s ears will be cleaner, or that the dog will look more intimidating.
The practice is illegal throughout the UK unless carried out by a vet for medical reasons, and is referred to as ‘mutilation’ under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Despite the legislation in place to protect them, there are unfortunately still those who are willing to put dogs through the ordeal for purely the sake of aesthetics.
Becky Thwaites, Head of Public Affairs at national pet charity Blue Cross, told Metro.co.uk: ‘Dog cruelty is on the rise in the UK. The horrific and utterly unnecessary practice of ear cropping is illegal in this country and yet charities are seeing a staggering increase in reports.
‘This abhorrent altering of an animal’s appearance is favoured for the aesthetic by many shipping in these dogs from breeders abroad, and we’re glad new laws are on the way to ban the importing of these dogs.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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