Three men have been jailed for cropping the ears of eight-week-old puppies and leaving them to suffer.
Ear cropping is a purely cosmetic procedure and not used for any health reasons and RSPCA Inspector Jim Farr, said: "Ear cropping has been illegal in the UK for a long time, for good reason. It's a barbaric, painful procedure that's carried out purely to achieve a 'desired look' and to make a dog appear tougher.
"However, removing a dog's ears can have serious, lifelong implications for that dog. Ear cropping is a painful process in which part or all of the ear is removed for cosmetic reasons. It is illegal under the Animal Welfare Act."
Read more: Dog transporter jailed for causing unnecessary suffering to 44 dogs
Despite being illegal in the UK dogs with cropped ears still attract high prices for those selling them.
This month three men convicted for their part in ear cropping of three puppies received jail terms, fines and banning orders.
The sentencing came after police found six pups at a property on November 10, 2020, three of them in a semi-comatose state as a result of anaesthesia given to them prior to having their ears hacked off in a ‘back-street’ and illegal procedure.
All six puppies were seized by Staffordshire Police and the RSPCA set up an investigation and on August 5, 2022, all three men were sentenced after each pleaded guilty to individual offences.
Three men, Alexander David Johnson, Ryan Woodward and Michael Nolan were in the house at the time according to the Daily Mirror who reported surgical equipment and veterinary drugs were also found and seized.
Each was jailed, fined and banned from having dogs. All three were also served with deprivation orders meaning they have 21 days to rehome any dogs still in their care.
In a written witness statement, provided to the court by RSPCA inspector Jenny Bethel, she confirmed she had collected the puppies in 2020 and had taken them to a veterinary practice for immediate care.
She said that three of the six puppies - who were all bull breed types aged around eight to10 weeks old - had their ears cropped and three had their ears intact.
All puppies were examined and given a health check, vaccinations and were microchipped, with the three which had their ears cropped the night before were given pain relief and antibiotics.
The three ear-cropped pups went on to have their ears operated on and re-stitched at RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital.
Inspector Bethel continued to investigate the incident with police handing over seized items from the night of the offence.
There were two pairs of black latex gloves and bloodied kitchen roll tissue all in separate sealed evidence bags and there was a black men’s cosmetic bag containing multiple and various veterinary objects.
She told the court: “The bag contained syringes, needles, surgical scissors and blades, three empty 10mg bottles of Sedivet for horses, one empty bottle of ketamine, empty vaccination bottles, pliers and a staple gun with blood on it.” There also was a brown envelope filled with items.
Insp Bethel continued: “Inside the envelope was a black rucksack. Inside the rucksack there were surgical masks, an opened box of latex gloves, syringes, needles, suture, stitching with a bloodied needle attached, Panadol tablets, surgical tape, tie wraps, marker pen, nail clippers and an empty rabies vaccination bottle.
In an independent expert veterinary report presented to the court, it was stated that the cropping of the ears of the puppies would have caused them to suffer unnecessarily even though they were anaesthetised during the procedure and they suffered considerable amounts of unnecessary pain and distress after the procedure.
None of the defendants claimed ownership of five of the puppies who were signed over to the RSPCA from where they were found loving homes. The sixth dog was signed over to the RSPCA a few months later and was also found a forever homes. The dogs been named by their new owners as Diesel, Moose, Jed, Vera, Lyla and Peanut.
After sentencing inspector Bethel said: “Over the months I monitored the puppies and took them for vaccinations and vet visits. I would like to thank The Cheshire (Altrincham) Branch of the RSPCA for providing wonderful foster homes on such short notice so they didn’t have to spend any time in kennels.
“All six puppies have grown into beautiful dogs, are a credit to their fosterers and have gone on to find amazing forever homes.”
PC Rebecca Tyler, of Stoke North Local Policing Team, said: “This is something that my colleagues and I will remember for the rest of our careers. We are glad that the puppies recovered and have found loving homes.”
Alexander David Johnson from Stoke faced one offence that he carried out the cropping of ears on three puppies. He was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison and ordered to pay £775 costs and banned from keeping dogs for life.
Ryan Woodward from Stoke faced one offence that he did aid, abet, counsel or procure Alexander David Johnson to carry out a prohibited procedure of cropping the ears of three puppies. He was jailed for 19 weeks and ordered to pay £775 costs and he was banned from keeping dogs for life.
Michael Nolan from Carlisle faced one offence in that he was responsible for a puppy and another person carried out a prohibited procedure, namely the cropping of ears on the animal and he permitted that to happen or failed to take such steps to prevent it. He was jailed for 14 weeks and ordered to pay £400 costs and he was banned from keeping dogs for 15 years.
In total their jail terms amount to 13 months with total costs of less than £2,000.
The British Veterinary Association is running a campaign urging the end to illegal ear cropping called #cutthecrop.
A spokesperson said: "Ear cropping has no health benefits for the dogs and is carried out only for cosmetic reasons, in a bid to make the dogs look tougher."
You can take action to #CutTheCrop
Share your support for the campaign:
- Write to retailers about the sale of ear cropping and/or splinting kits using BVA's template letter.
- Share the BVA #CutTheCrop graphics:
- For organisations (there's space to add your logo to these graphics):
- For individuals:
- For organisations (there's space to add your logo to these graphics):
- Call out celebrities on social media who post pictures with their cropped dogs and encourage them to #CutTheCrop.
Northern Ireland Animal Welfare
Contact your local council if you are concerned about the welfare of domestic pets, including horses, and non-farmed animals.
