Woman acquitted in tail docking case

A provincial court judge has acquitted a Queens County woman of causing an animal to be in distress.

The Nova Scotia SPCA said in a news release that it charged 44- year- old Debbie Baggs of Hunts Point for allegedly docking the tails of puppies by placing rubber bands on their tails until the tails lost circulation and eventually fell off. The SPCA said a witness from the Atlantic Veterinary

College testified that the pro- cedure does cause significant pain and distress to the puppy even at a very young age of only days old.

Baggs was acquitted Tuesday. The SPCA said in the release the judge indicated there was evidence that there was distress to the puppies, but that Baggs was acquitted because of a “loophole.”

It said the Nova Scotia Animal Protection Act

states that no person shall cause an animal to be in distress, but also says that subsection does not apply if the procedure is car- ried out in accordance with reasonable and generally accepted practices of animal management, husbandry or slaughter, or an activity exempted by the regulations.

The SPCA’S chief provincial inspector Jo-anne Landsburg said in the release that

the decision is disappointing on many levels.

“I’m confident that the minister of agriculture will see this for the loophole it is and make the appropriate changes in the legislation to prevent this from happening in the future,” she said.