(1)Schedule 1 to the Protection of Animals (Anaesthetics) Act 1954 (which lists operations which may be performed without an anaesthetic) shall be amended as follows.
(2)Paragraph 5 (castration of dogs and cats below certain ages) shall be repealed.
(3)For paragraph 6 (castration of horses, asses or mules, bulls, sheep, goats and pigs below certain ages) there shall be substituted the following paragraphs—
“6The castration of a male animal specified in the following table before it has reached the age so specified, that is to say—
| bull | 3 months |
| sheep | 3 months |
| goat | 2 months |
| pig | 2 months. |
6AThe foregoing paragraph shall not apply to the castration of an animal by using a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the scrotum unless the device is applied within the first week of life.”
(4)Paragraphs 7 and 8 (minor operations which are customarily performed without an anaesthetic) shall not in any circumstances permit—
(a)the castration of a male animal (but without prejudice to the circumstances in which castration is permitted by paragraph 6 of the Schedule as set out in subsection (3) of this section);
(b)the de-horning of cattle;
(c)the dis-budding of calves, except by means of chemical cauterisation applied within the first week of life; or
(d)the docking of lambs' tails by using a rubber ring or other device to constrict the flow of blood to the tail, unless the device is applied within the first week of life.
(5)In this section " cattle" means bulls, cows, bullocks, heifers, calves, steers or oxen.