Bill Wilson MSP

West of Scotland MSP, Dr Bill Wilson – a member of the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee – has welcomed a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, in which he states that the branding of horses by a hot iron will no longer take place.

Media Coverage

Dr Wilson, who been campaigning for the practice to be made illegal for many months, was already pleased that the Cabinet Secretary had launched a consultation to remove the exemption for hot branding of equine animals.
 
Commenting, Dr Wilson said:
 
“I am very pleased to have received this confirmation from the Cabinet Secretary and particularly pleased that he is going to make the practice of branding horses with hot irons illegal.
 
“I recently asked the Cabinet Secretary if he would investigate the practice of hot branding for Scottish Exmoor Ponies, and passed him a dossier of information on the topic. It is very welcome to see that this campaigning has paid off.
 
“Hot branding is a primitive and unreliable means of identification so there is no justification for it.  I have watched a DVD of the process and can testify that it appears to cause severe distress to the animals.”