A Fife woman’s Pitbull-type dog looks to have been saved after the public helped raise £1500 to get him identity tattooed – a requirement which the Scottish SPCA would support being repealed.
Two-year-old Mico, classed as a banned dog type under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, had faced being euthanised as owner Alicia Tang could not afford to fund the final requirement to get him on the index of exempted dogs.
The 24-year-old was prosecuted for letting him stray in the Cowdenbeath area last September but following a positive report on Mico’s temperament and her fitness to look after him, a court made a contingent dog destruction order at the end of June.
Ms Tang went on to fulfil what she believed to be all of the necessary conditions, including having him neutered, microchipped, insured and kept muzzled and on a lead in public.
Despite this, on October 16 at Dunfermline Sheriff Court her defence lawyer, Aime Allan, said that “for reasons not clear” Defra will “refuse to put a dog on the list of exemptions in Scotland only, if the dog is not tattooed”.
She added: “It’s not a requirement anywhere else in the UK”.
The tattoo is mentioned in Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 guidance from the Scottish Government.
Ms Allan said it would cost about £1,500 to have the dog tattooed by someone in England and her client could not afford it, so she had to book it in at the vet on Tuesday to be put to sleep.
The Courier highlighted Ms Tang’s plight in an article the same day, which led to a swell of public support and the creation of a fundraising page.
‘Absolutely buzzing’
Speaking last night, Ms Tang said the funding has been raised – £680 through a GoFundme page and the rest through donations from groups dealing with breed-specific legislation – which will pay for the tattoo of an index number on Mico’s inner thigh and the cost of a general aesthetic.
Ms Tang said: “He is still alive and not getting put down for genuinely no reason.
“It’s not so stressful now.
“I am absolutely buzzing (that Mico is alive).
“I am just thankful to the people who have donated.”
Ms Tang, who got Mico as a puppy on the understanding he was a cross Mastiff and Staffordshire Bull Terrier, has booked him in to be tattooed on October 30.
She said a woman from England will be travelling to tattoo Mico under the supervision of a vet.
Ms Tang will then send photographic proof along with a vet’s form to Defra and hopes to receive an exemption certificate by post a few days later.
Frustration over rules
Ms Tang said she only found out about the tattoo necessity in late August after paying more than £300 to meet all the other requirements – including over £200 for neutering and £92 for the certificate of exemption itself.
Ms Tang described her dog as a “sweetheart” and called for the scrapping of the “unnecessary” tattoo requirement in Scotland.
She is also frustrated by the lack of any facility in Scotland doing it and feels a microchip is “as good as ID”.
She added: “Why do I need the tattoo with index number when I could have a certificate which says ‘this is the dog, I am the owner and I am on the index of exempted dogs?’
“How can they say it’s a requirement in Scotland to be tattooed but don’t have the facility up here to be reliant on that?”
SSPCA backing
Her case was highlighted to the Scottish SPCA and Scottish government.
Scottish SPCA Chief superintendent Mike Flynn said: “The original 1991 Act required exempted dogs to be tattooed.
“This was repealed in England and Wales in 2015 by an amendment to the Act but this repeal did not extend to Scotland.
“In 1991 microchips were not entirely reliable compared to today, so tattooing was provided for guaranteed identification.
“Today, microchipping is nearly 100% reliable so tattooing is no longer really required.
“We would support this requirement being repealed in Scotland”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said it keeps laws under review and will consider carefully whether changes to this requirement may be merited.
They said they can not comment on individual cases.
The controversial case
At a court hearing in March, Ms Tang pled guilty to being the owner of a Pitbull terrier type under the Dangerous Dogs Act and allowing it to stray at Donibristle, Cowdenbeath, on September 16 2022.
She told us that her pet was spooked by a banging noise on the walk, ran off, and was taken into kennels before being released back to her hours later.
She says a dog warden expressed concerns to her at the time about Mico’s Pitbull characteristics.
In November last year the dog was taken away from her again and kept in kennels.
It was only after the contingent destruction order was made at the end of June – over seven months later – she was able to get Mico back home.
Ms Tang, who has grown up with dogs, says she has never had any issue with 25kg Mico and his recall and response to other commands is very good.
At last week’s court hearing, Sheriff Lindsay Foulis deferred sentence until November 9 for her to appear and said he would need to see proof of the dog being euthanised.
But Ms Tang now hopes to appear in court in much happier circumstances with Mico’s exemption certificate in hand.
