“Just because you can” is not a very good mantra.
Unfortunately humans consistently and without fail do things just because they can – dropping trash on the footpath as they eat the ice cream bar or hacking off various appendages of animals are things that immediately come to mind.
Veterinarians and human medical doctors are professionals.
As with most professionals they have creeds and oaths to guide them ethically and morally.
The Hippocratic Oath is one of the oldest and most widely known codes of ethics.
The name comes from the original text attributed to Hippocrates, a Greek physician commonly credited with beginning the practice of medicine.
Hippocrates wrote: “As to diseases, make a habit of two things – to help, or at least to do no harm.”
Primum non nocere is Latin meaning “above all, do no harm”.
Hippocrates lived around 2500 years ago.
However, 2000 years before Hippocrates, the history of veterinary medicine goes back to China who had veterinary treatises on horses and cattle, and to Urlugaledinna, who lived in 3000 BC in Mesopotamia, and was considered “an expert in healing animals”.
From this time onwards there are references to “veterinarians” and veterinary practices throughout literature.
The word “veterinary” comes from the Latin veterinae meaning “working animals”.
It was given to those who worked on or with the working horses and cattle of the day.
“Veterinarian” was first used in print by Thomas Browne in 1646 and by 1761 the veterinary profession can be said to have started with the founding of the veterinary school in Lyon, France by Claude Bourgelat.
Writes one historian, in the midst of missing texts, sketchy recorded history, and translations from ancient languages, one thing is clear: even when people were writing books on papyrus, the connection between caring for humans, animals, and the environment was unmistakable.
Do no harm should be a human-kind mantra.
Not just for veterinarians.
Especially in these days where we should have an acute and intimate understanding of biodiversity and at least a small understanding of one health.
What does this have to do with animal ears and tails?
Well, this veterinarian takes tail docking and ear cropping as an excellent example of primum non nocere.
Altering an animals body for cosmetic purposes, or to pander to wild myths and falsehoods is wrong.
Chopping off noses is immediately painful, leads to lifelong misery and does not improve a dogs sense of smell – neither science nor nature supports this abuse.
Horse and cattle tails hold two important functions – communication and fly swatter.
There is no support for docking these animal tails.
Chopping off a dogs ear no more helps them hear than chopping off your ear.
As for a fashionable appearance, or to make a dog more fearsome or a horse bum wider – these are strictly accepted practices which should be closely scrutinaised for their worth, or more importantly, lack of worth.
There certainly are instances where surgical altering is for a sound medical reason.
Common in tropical and sub-tropical environments is a type of skin cancer in cats ears which requires surgical removal of the affected tissue to halt its spread.
Dogs (and other animals) with injured tails often are left with an expanding non-healing wound which often leads to self-trauma (dogs chewing at their own tails) – this is treated by removing the offending appendage (tail amputation).
Tail docking is an outdated practice that involves cutting or crushing muscle, nerves, and bone in a dog’s tail to remove it – historically done when a puppy is less than five days old (presumably someone knew there was pain involved with this procedure).
Certainly the older the puppy or dog the more pain is suffered, and the potential complications increase.
Ear cropping is a painful process where a dog’s outer ears are removed altogether or are surgically altered, with the tips or huge sections of the outer ear being cut off.
RSPCA dog welfare expert Dr Samantha Gaines, says: “Ear cropping is painful and completely unnecessary. Despite what some breeders will
claim, cropping a dog’s ears does not benefit them in any way. It can be detrimental to their health, behaviour and welfare in the short and longterm.”
Dogs have their ears cropped for one reason and one reason only; to achieve a certain look.
In short, it makes them look tougher, more intimidating.
Historically, breeds such as Dobermans had their ears cropped as puppies and then splinted – taped to bits of wood or cardboard – to make
their ears grow upwards instead of leaving them to go floppy.
Now, we tend to see breeds such as American Bull l Terriers having their whole ears removed.
Dogs are being put through this painful process simply to make them look a certain way.
It’s entirely for the owner’s taste and could affect the dog for the rest of his or her life.”
Whether for some outlandish statement of fashion or an ill-conceived idea of toughness or even worse ideals, these practices should be shunned.
Accepting and encouraging tail docking or other mutilations because of custom or fashion is puzzling.
Humans – go ahead and do these things to yourselves if you wish.
You can make the choice by your own free will and understanding.
You should not inflict mutilation on animals – primum non nocere.
The good news, tail docking in dogs for cosmetic purposes is steadily losing traditional favour, with many dog owners and vets staunchly
opposing the practice.
Many advocate outlawing the procedure for purely looks.
An increasing number of welfare standards present scientific support for abandoning this and other previously accepted practices.
Just recently The British Veterinary Association is working with major online retailers to stop the buying and selling of DIY kits for illegal procedures that compromise the welfare of dogs and cats.
We are slowly accepting the responsibility of “do no harm”.
As I was researching these things I happened to come upon this interesting bit of history “… carved into a single, massive, black, stone
pillar, the Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest and most complete legal written codes. It was proclaimed by a Babylonian king named (what else?) Hammurabi, whose history of naming things after himself went from 1792 to 1750 BCE. In the Code, Hammurabi not only set out veterinary fees, but also fines for malpractice.
Likely history well known among the legal profession but maybe not so well known among veterinarians … I digress.
• JO OLVER is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with SPCA Fiji Islands. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of this newspaper.
