Save our Pets from death on the roads

The Welsh Assembly has banned the use of all Electronic Collars – even those which keep our pets safe in our gardens.  Don’t let this happen in England !

Defra (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) has commissioned Lincoln University to undertake a study of the effect of E-Collars on the welfare of domestic dogs.  Defra has also asked CAWC (the Companion Animal Welfare Council) to give a complementary opinion.

E-Collars fall mainly into two groups.  Those which are used by dog owners to train their dogs by delivering a shock via a hand-held device to correct the dog’s behaviour; and those which are used with ‘containment fences’ (which are thin wires in the ground or fixed to existing walls and fences).  This latter type does not enable a pet owner to deliberately deliver a shock, and are designed for the sole purpose of discouraging our cats and dogs from wandering out of their designated safety zone and onto our roads. A simple and effective training programme quickly teaches pets to recognise where the boundaries of the zone are. Small flags (which are removed after a few weeks), together with an audible warning from the collar, are part of this training. Only if the pet ignores the warning will the collar then deliver a mild static shock.

Although containment fences have been excluded from the Defra research, there is a considerable danger that England might follow Wales and simply decide to ban all E-Collars.

This petition does not address the use of E-Collars as training aids for dogs.  However, the petitioners do insist that if Defra’s research considers training aids are cruel to dogs, then E-Collars used with containment fences must be specifically excluded from any resultant ban.

We have the right, as well as a legal obligation, to protect our pets from the pain, suffering, injury and death which so frequently results if they are allowed to stray onto our roads.