Animal Rescue with Marion Garnett
WHILE writing this, I’m sitting in a sparkly car show room where it all looks immaculate and perfect. The last time I was here, it was exactly the same except when I wanted to go to the loo, they told me there was a problem with the plumbing and I would have to flush it with a bucket.
Beware of that which looks good on the outside but is not so sparkly on the inside. Ebony doesn’t have that problem.
Dogs Trust say that Ebony “is a truly beautiful girl on the inside and out”. What a wonderful description. But, if you look at her carefully you can see a clue she’s not had an easy life.
Yes, she has cropped ears. Dogs wouldn’t be born with ears if they were meant to be cut off. We’ll return to ear cropping later, let’s concentrate on Ebony first. Ebony is a crossbreed who originally came from Romania. Since being in the care of Dogs Trust Harefield her confidence has greatly improved.
She adores her favourite people and loves having cuddles from them. Ebony prefers human company over the company of other dogs so would prefer a home without neighbouring dogs.
She would also like her new owners to be around for most of the day to continue her socialisation.
If you’re interested in offering Ebony a loving home, see details at dogstrust.org.uk.
Now back to cropped ears. Dogs have ears for a reason. They don’t just use them for hearing but also for communicating.
Sadly, some people think certain dogs should have their ears altered to make them look more intimidating. Ear cropping is a painful process which is illegal in the UK. Despite being illegal, animal charities report increasing numbers of dogs with cropped ears coming into their care. This can be due to animals being sent abroad to have their ears cropped or dogs being imported with their ears already cropped.
Supported by Dogs Trust, the government wants to ban the import of dogs with cropped ears and have just conducted a consultation into this issue.
There is concern by some charities who rescue animals from abroad about a complete ban as it could stop some needy dogs being rehomed here but we will have to wait for the consultation results to see if there are any well-regulated exemptions.
Many animal organisations say it has to be a complete ban in order to avoid any loopholes which would be exploited by those up to no good.