11/27/2025
Should Canada have a similar law?
🐾The Animal welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill has passed in Parliament! 🐾
Since 2006, it has been illegal to crop a dog’s ears in the UK. Yet a loophole exists where people are still able to legally import a dog with cropped ears from abroad. Sadly, many also crop ears in the UK and then falsely claim that the dog was imported from abroad.
This Bill will close that loophole.
For a number of years the Scottish SPCA has chaired UK and Irish Pet Trade Taskforce, and been at the forefront of disrupting the trade and calling for tougher rules.
The new law means:
❗️No under age puppies and kittens coming into the UK
❗️No importing of dogs with cropped ears/other mutilations (see pinned comment for exemptions)
❗️No transporting heavily pregnant animals
❗️Stronger checks to stop criminal gangs
❗️Better public health protection
This is a huge step towards ending illegal pet imports. We look forward to Scotland adopting these protections too 🐾