Facts will win

The little dog’s bloody bandage had come undone and it was shuffling around on the floor, feebly licking its split, weeping tail. “What’s wrong with it?” asked my younger brother, recoiling from the grim sight. “Animal welfare,” replied the old boy sitting across from us, as he pulled more tape from his pocket. My brother didn’t get the joke, but up and down Scotland that morning hundreds of dogs were enduring similar injuries.

The cause, of course, was the tail docking ban introduced by the Scottish Government in 2007. While I fully believe that the likes of poodles and pinschers should be free to pootle around with the entirety of their tail, it is — as any shooting man knows — the painful, bloody reality that working HPRS and spaniels suffer if their tails are left undocked. It was therefore a real victory for common sense last week, when Holyrood voted in favour of an amendment that allows working dogs to undergo the entirely necessary procedure.

There is a perception in some quarters of our community that politicians have it in for us and the end is nigh. Yet this latest development shows that when we articulate well-reasoned, sciencebased arguments for what we do, the ball is in our court. The same point was proved by the overwhelming support shown by MPS for grouse shooting back in October.

Yes, we have detractors in Holyrood and Westminster and yes, they shout very loudly sometimes, but when we counter the bellicose few with straight-up facts, we gain the support of the moderate many.