Allow charities to rescue dogs with docked tails under the Animal Welfare Bill

We ask Parliament to include an exemption in the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Bill for registered charities and approved, responsible rescue organisations to rehome adult, disease tested dogs, who were previously docked as working hunting dogs abroad.

As outlined in our manifesto, the government is committed to ending puppy smuggling. That is why we were pleased to support the Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats and Ferrets) Act 2025.

The Act will close loopholes in the non-commercial pet travel rules that are abused by unscrupulous traders. It also gives the government powers to prevent the supply of low-welfare pets to the United Kingdom. This includes the power to make regulations prohibiting dogs and cats being brought into Great Britain with non-exempted mutilations, such as docked tails and cropped ears, and the power to specify appropriate exemptions in future regulations.

These prohibitions and any appropriate exemptions will be delivered via secondary legislation at a later date. We will continue to work with stakeholders and consider their feedback – for example, on the impact of the regulations on rescue and rehoming – to help shape these exemptions. The government is clear, however, that any exemptions to these measures will need to be finely balanced against the risk of creating loopholes that could be exploited by bad actors.

In the meantime, owners and importers can find up to date guidance on bringing dogs to Great Britain on the gov.uk website, available at: https://www.gov.uk/bring-pet-to-great-britain.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural