Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Prohibited Procedures on Protected Animals (Exemptions) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2009 and come into force on the day after the day on which they are made.

Amendment of the Prohibited Procedures on Protected Animals (Exemptions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007

2.—(1) The Prohibited Procedures on Protected Animals (Exemptions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007(2) are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 2 (interpretation) insert in the appropriate place–

““de-snooding” means the removal of the part of the male turkey’s wattle arising from the forehead and lying over the upper beak;”;

““non-farmed animal” means any animal not kept for the production of food, wool or skin or for use in the farming of land;”; and

““the 2000 Regulations” means the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Regulations 2000(3);”.

(3) For the table in Schedule 1 (bovine animals), substitute–

(4) For the table in Schedule 2 (pigs), substitute–

(5) For the table in Schedule 3 (birds), substitute–

(6) For the table in Schedule 4 (sheep), substitute–

(7) For the table in Schedule 5 (goats), substitute–

(8) For the table in Schedule 6 (equine animals), substitute–

(9) For the table in Schedule 7 (deer), substitute–

(10) For the table in Schedule 8 (cats), substitute–

(11) For the table in Schedule 9 (dogs), substitute–

(12) For the table in Schedule 10 (fish), substitute–

(13) For the table in Schedule 11 (reptiles), substitute–

(14) For the table in Schedule 12 (any other kind of animal), substitute–

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Prohibited Procedures on Protected Animals (Exemptions) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (“the principal Regulations”) by adding and removing permitted procedures and the requirements that apply to them as set out in the new tables to be substituted in the Schedules to the principal Regulations.

The spaying of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, deer and horses is no longer a permitted procedure and has been removed from the principal Regulations. A number of procedures for the control of animal reproduction and identification have been added to the principal Regulations; namely, ovum transfer, laparoscopic insemination, implantation of a subcutaneous contraceptive, castration, ovidectomy and vasectomy and wing and web tagging of birds.

The principal Regulations specify the procedures to which the offences in section 20(1) and (2) of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 do not apply. Those provisions of that Act make it an offence to carry out, or to cause, or, in specified circumstances, permit another person to carry out, a prohibited procedure on a protected animal. A prohibited procedure is one that involves the interference with the sensitive tissues or bone structure of the animal, otherwise than for the purpose of its medical treatment (see section 20(4) of that Act). A protected animal is one which is of a kind which is commonly domesticated in the British Islands or under the control of man on a permanent or temporary basis or not living in a wild state (see section 17(1) of that Act).

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business, charities or the voluntary sector.