Independent senator Rónán Mullen has today (Tuesday, January 16) criticised the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue, claiming the minister is “trying to hide” a proposal to ban electronic training collars for dogs from farmers and dog owners.
Mullen has also challenged his Seanad colleague, Senator Regina Doherty, over her claims about data supporting a ban.
Senator Mullen has said that a proposal for a three-week consultation on the possible ban of electronic collars, which are used to train dogs to stay away from livestock, was this month put at the bottom of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) website.
He said the notice about the consultation did not have any heading on the website, and also did not have a briefing note for stakeholders or members of the public.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, January 26.
Dog collar ban
Senator Mullen claimed: “It is a long-standing tradition of governments to hide unpopular announcements in the hope that nobody will notice.
“But it is completely unacceptable for the government to stage a fig-leaf of a consultation and to bury the announcement of it on its website – beneath a series of guidance notes on dog ear-cropping.
“The department has given no indication of why it’s putting the question of a ban on the agenda, nor has it given any guidance on what information is being requested.”
“The reason for the subterfuge seems to be that attempts for a similar ban in England recently failed because of a backlash from farmers and dog owners, Senator Mullen added.
The notice of the consultation can be found by clicking here and states:
“The use of remotely controlled electronic shock collars in dogs and cats has been banned in several European countries on the grounds of animal welfare.
“The question of whether the use of these devices on dogs and cats ought to be banned in Ireland is under consideration by the Advisory Council for Companion Animal Welfare, which advises the minister on such matters.
“Submissions by stakeholders on this question may be submitted by email to [email protected] before 26th January 2024,” the DAFM notice stated.
Senator Mullen has said that it is farmers who have to face the “gruesome” consequences when sheep have been savaged and dog-owners sometimes then must deal with their pets being shot or put down.
“E-collar training is used by thousands of dog owners to make their dogs wary of approaching sheep when they escape,” Senator Mullen continued.
“There is an impressive amount of science demonstrating the effectiveness of e-collar training.
“The alternative of training dogs through rewarding them with biscuits, so called ‘positive only’ training, is not proven to be effective at stopping predatory attacks on livestock. It is scientifically illiterate to suggest otherwise,” he added.
Other control methods
Other approaches, like increasing criminal sanctions to get owners to constantly keep dogs on leads do not solve the problem either, according to the independent senator.
“That is because owners know that their pets need off-lead exercise. And dogs don’t pay fines. They smell a sheep long before their owner notices and they can run much faster,” he said.
“There is a lot of evidence to show that e-collar training is not cruel. And so I am surprised that my seanad colleague, Regina Doherty claims that the dog e-collars ‘are incredibly cruel’ because they ‘create 6,000 volts’.
“Yet 200,000 volts is safely used in classroom experiments in which children’s hair is raised,” he added.
Mullen said that there is missing science behind Senator Doherty’s concern in relation to current.
Extremely high voltages can be safe when the current is low. This is why the impact of electric devices used to safeguard animals is measured in joules of electricity – which is the combination of voltage and current,” Senator Mullen said.
“The product standard for dog e-collars limits them to delivering a pulse of 5 mJ – that is 3,000 times lower than the 15,000 mJ produced by some livestock fences which any animal can accidentally touch.”
Senator Mullen, said he will raise the matter in the Seanad next week and has called for the consultation deadline to be extended.
“Otherwise, it will look as though the government is trying to hide the consultation because it is only interested in hearing from certain vested interests before reaching a conclusion,” he claimed.
“There may be a temptation for the minister to take the ‘cuddly’ stance of wanting to ban a device which some campaigners portray as cruel.
“But the government needs to take an evidence-based approach to the issues of whether these e-collars are effective and whether their use compromises the safety and welfare of animals.
“The government can’t do its job properly here unless it consults widely with scientists, sheep farmers and their representatives, dog owners, vets and others with an evidence-based point of view.”
The senator stressed that Ireland has a “huge” problem of dogs attacking sheep and added that taking away what he described as the only proven training method of avoiding these attacks should not be done lightly.