AMAZON has been slammed for selling “barbaric” DIY ear cropping kits for dogs.
The online retailer has been urged by furious animal lovers to remove the Premium Pitbull Dog Ear Cropping Clamp Guide Tools Kit from their website immediately.
The “cruel” kits come with a scalpel handle, thumb forceps, ten blades and a pair of sharp scissors.
They are currently being sold by US sellers Avon Surgical for £31 and are available to be shipped to Amazon customers worldwide.
Another Amazon seller, DDP Instruments are also selling “Ear cropping scissors” to customers all over the country.
Following the backlash, Amazon today announced they were “investigating the matter”.
Ear cropping is illegal in the UK under the Animal Welfare Act, unless it is carried out for medical reasons.
However, some heartless dog owners have been known to mutilate their pets by cropping their ear to make them appear more ferocious.
Animal campaigners, Focus on Animal Law (FOAL) hit out at Amazon on Twitter on Thursday for selling the “sickening” items.
They wrote: “That sickening feeling when you realise US Amazon are selling and shipping DIY ear cropping kits to the UK!
“It’s time to blow away the smokescreen covering up illegal cropping in the UK by banning the importation of cropped dogs.”
The RSPCA were also angered at Amazon for selling and shipping the home cropping kits – while revealing a 236% increase in reports over the process over the last five years.
An RSPCA spokeswoman said: “We’re extremely concerned at how easy it is to buy home cropping kits online and we’ll be writing to the retailers selling them to urge them to remove them.
“Ear cropping is a painful process to remove part or all of a dog’s ear for cosmetic reasons.
“It can cause serious and long-term health and behaviour issues for the dog.
“Ear cropping is illegal in the UK but is sadly still legal in other countries, such as parts of Europe and the USA.
“Even in countries where ear cropping is not illegal, we do not believe that these kits should be sold – this is not something anyone should be doing to their dogs at home.”
From 2015 to 2019, the charity has had 178 reports of ear cropping.
Student vet nurse Jill Murray from Norham, Northumberland also hit out at the organisation on Facebook saying they were “promoting animal cruelty”.
She wrote: “After seeing this on a veterinary professional social media about how easy it is to purchase these kits from Amazon and have them shipped to the UK where this is a banned practice, I am appalled that amazon would allow these barbaric products to be sold via them.
“It’s cruel and a completely unnecessary practice, it’s mutilation! Amazon should be discouraging this and not allowing sales of these ‘kits’.
“There is no justifiable reason for a dog to have their ears cropped and definitely not ever in someone’s home.
“What these dogs go through to have the right ‘look’ goes against animal welfare at all costs, the cruelty and unbelievable pain.
“It’s banned in the UK for a reason and a leading company such as Amazon shouldn’t be allowing these kits to be sold let alone have them shipped elsewhere.
“You’re essentially promoting animal cruelty.”
Social media users have also taken to Facebook and Twitter to vent after being left fuming by the discovery.
Sylvia Jackson wrote: “People who do this to a dog shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a dog.”
Jackie Mcaleavey added: “This is barbaric.”
And Herchy Boal: “This is absolutely disgraceful.
“Having dealt with investigations into ear cropping I know how cruel and unnecessary this practice is.
“I hope Amazon does what they can to stop allowing these kits into the country.”
FOAL also shared a link to the “Ban the importation of dogs with cropped ears” petition on the UK Government and Parliament website.
The petition, which currently has over 20,000 signatures, reads: “There appears to be an alarming rise in dogs imported after undergoing the inhumane procedure of having their ears mutilated, fulfilling the desire for a certain ‘look’ and encouraging a procedure outlawed in England since 1899.
“It’s time to close this 121-year-old legal loophole.”
An Amazon spokesman today said: “We are investigating the matter.
“The items are not available in our .co.uk store.”
