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British Columbia has become the second Canadian province to ban cat declawing on the grounds that the procedures are not in the animals’ best interest.
Ban
The motion
was pushed through by the College of Veterinarians of B.C. (CVBC) – for similar
reasons to those provided for Nova Scotia’s ban late last year.
CVBC CEO
Lisa Hlus said: “There is a consensus among the public and within our
profession that declawing cats is an inhumane treatment and ethically
unacceptable, similar to other outdated practices such as tail docking and ear
cropping.”
The ban will apply to any declawing not deemed medically necessary.
‘Mutilation’
At the time
of the previous ban, Dr. Hugh Chisholm of animal welfare organization The Paw
Project said: “You are amputating 10 bones from 10 digits on the paws of a cat,
and if that doesn’t constitute mutilation, I don’t know what does.”
The
procedure – which is usually conducted to prevent cats from scratching people,
furniture, or other animals – can cause complications such as arthritis,
behavioural changes and displaced bone fragments for the cats.
For these and other
reasons, the CVBC’s statement earlier this week called declawing ‘ethically
problematic’ and noted that it’s ‘not an appropriate means of dealing with
feline behaviour issues’.
