Although it was a common practice for aesthetic reasons for years, docking dogs’ ears or tails is currently illegal in Baja California and is considered animal abuse by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE).
This was the warning issued by zootechnician and veterinarian Marco Antonio Tapia Miranda, who pointed out that this intervention, far from being a simple cosmetic procedure, represents an act of animal cruelty penalized by state law.
He explained that veterinarians have a legal and ethical obligation to reject these types of practices and report cases to the competent authorities when they receive an animal with signs of recent mutilation.
That’s already illegal. If we receive a dog, we have an obligation to report it, because it’s considered animal abuse. As citizens, we can also file a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office for abuse,” he noted.
Veterinarians performed these procedures.
He stated that in the past, the responsibility for subjecting a pet to this type of procedure lay with the veterinarian, and that it was sometimes performed as surgery under anesthesia.
This type of mutilation, which was justified in the past for functional or breed reasons, has been completely dismissed by veterinary associations since the law classifies it as animal abuse, Tapia Miranda emphasized.
He urged the public to report any case of cosmetic mutilation of pets directly to the Prosecutor’s Office, so that it can be investigated as a possible crime of animal abuse.
“At the time, it was supposedly done as a cosmetic procedure. Obviously, we stopped performing it, but there were people who took advantage of it. As doctors, we are obligated to report these practices,” he stated.
Similar protocols to human medicine
Furthermore, he added that veterinarians currently work under protocols similar to those in human medicine, where any intervention must be accompanied by informed consent and real medical grounds.
He emphasized that the best way to care for a pet is to treat it as part of the family, respecting its rights and ensuring it receives ethical, legal, and well-being-based veterinary care.
Source: elimparcial
