Man jailed for 3 months for cutting off puppy's tail with a knife or pair of scissors

-Mirror

A man has been jailed for cutting off an eight-week-old puppy's tail and leaving it to suffer "excruciating pain".

The Jack Russell was left in agony when 24-year-old Walter Doe used a sharp tool to remove its tail two inches from its base.

The RSPCA removed the black and white puppy, called Jack, from Doe's care last July following a report of concern for the animal's welfare.

They found Jack with a bandage around his tail and in obvious pain.

The puppy was taken to a vet who removed the bandage and found a very raw wound, about two inches from the tail base, with the rest of the tail removed.

She added: "The vet said it was a very clean-cut wound and must have been made with a sharp tool."

Doe, of Campbell Close, Uckfield, East Sussex, was sentenced at Hastings Magistrates' Court on Monday to 12 weeks imprisonment for causing unnecessary suffering to the puppy and failing to seek veterinary treatment for his open wound.

He was also banned from keeping all animals for 10 years.

RSPCA Inspector Andrew Kirby said: "The prison sentence reflects how seriously the court took the suffering caused to the puppy.

"We have no proof about what was used to dock Jack's tail but, whether it was a knife or a pair of scissors, he would have been in agony.

"Cutting through the bone of the tail must have been excruciatingly painful and no attempt at all was made to relieve this pain.

"Tail docking is such a brutal way to treat a young animal in any case.

"As well as the pain it causes, it is just completely unnecessary and deprives the animal of their best means of expression and balance.

"We urge people to remember that is it is against the law for a reason."

The court also ordered that Jack, who has been living in foster care while the case was ongoing, is taken from Doe on a permanent basis.