A woman in Fort Augustus who gave a young boy electric shocks using a dog training collar faces jail for her appalling crimes. She apparantly got the idea after seeing one in use on a dog. This horrific case of child cruelty is a reminder as to why electric shock collars must be banned immediately. OneKind has long campaigned for a ban from a pet welfare perspective, but these collars, along with other devices that deliver pain and are intended for use on pets, are instruments of cruelty. Their free and easy availability inevitably results in tragedies like this one.
Anyone can buy an electric shock collar. We bought one like this for demonstration purposes from eBay for £20 and it arrived two days later. Shocks can be delivered on a variable scale from 1, the lowest, to 100. We’ve never used it above 20; even at this level it’s enough for anyone on the receiving end to understand why these awful devices need to be banned. When testing it out for the first time our Policy and Campaigns officer, Gregor, described what it felt like on level 4:
“My fingers twitch in three short bursts as the electricity forces my muscles to contract. This was just the test run and I was only expecting to feel an uncomfortable sensation at this low level, but it is actually painful.”
Wales has already taken the lead and banned them. The Scottish Government published a consultation document on whether to ban or regulate them at the beginning of this year and the responses are, we hope, at the top of the pile on the new Cabinet Minister’s desk.
There is overwhelming support for a ban. A recent YouGov poll of the Scottish public commissioned by OneKind and other welfare charities showed that 77% supported a ban. Earlier this year, we conducted a phone survey of dog trainers in Scotland. Of the 23 we spoke to, 91% supported a ban. They argued that they were both cruel and ineffective compared to reward-based training.
A ban wouldn’t have prevented cruelty to this poor child. Nor will it prevent cruelty to dogs and cats. But it would make it harder. People with a tendency towards cruelty will always find something to use, but there is no need to make devices like electric shock collars freely available to them. This only facilitates cruelty. We’re calling on the Scottish Government to wake up and ban these cruel devices forever – for the good of people and our pets.