No pain relief for piglets

Cattle and dogs are protected but piglets can have their tails cut off without pain relief under new animal welfare rules.

Under regulations coming into effect on October 1, docking the tails of cattle and dogs will be banned.

However, the rule doesn’t extend to pigs, which can still have their tails removed, in some cases without anaesthetic.

Piglets under a week old can be docked by a trained person, without pain relief, as long as the procedure is done with ‘‘a sharp clean cut with no tear’’.

Docking of older pigs must be done by a vet, using pain relief.

A spokesperson from the Ministry for Primary Industries said piglets only had their tails docked where necessary to prevent tail biting in commercial pig farming.

The regulations were in line with good practice and science for the procedure, the spokesperson said.

‘‘Tail docking is usually conducted on farm by a competent person when the piglets are under seven days of age.’’

The New Zealand Veterinary Association said piglets had a habit of chewing each other’s tails and a piglet whose tail was chewed by another was left with a dirty wound that was likely to get infected.

For that reason, piglets may have their tails docked, a procedure the NZVA agreed was painful.

However, providing adequate pain relief was difficult outside a full general anaesthetic, chief veterinary officer Helen Beattie said. ‘‘The skin could be anaesthetised using local anaesthetic but that does not provide any relief for the deeper tissues of the tail, and administration of local anaesthetic is in itself painful – it stings a lot,’’ Beattie said.

‘‘At this stage, in the absence of other husbandry systems and solutions, and no practical alternatives for anaesthesia, tail docking in young piglets results in a better welfare state overall.’’