Written question asked by Lord Beamish (Labour) on Thursday, 19 January 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 24 January 2012. It was answered by Lord Robathan (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 January 2012 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Animals: Euthanasia

Question: (3) what his Department's policy is on disposing of (a) horses and (b) dogs that have come to the end of their working life.

Answer: [holding answer 24 January 2012]: The Ministry of Defence's policy is to re-home all military working dogs and horses at the end of their service life wherever practicable.Regrettably, however, there are occasions when military working animals have to be put down humanely. This action is only ever taken as a last resort, where it is judged to be unsafe to re-home the animal because of the risk it poses to the public, or where veterinary reasons indicate that re-homing it would conflict with the animal's welfare.Horses are put down humanely for temperamental reasons when their behaviour is judged, by a panel comprising equitation instructors and veterinary officers, to be consistently dangerous to the rider and/or public and with no reasonable prospect of remedying the dangerous behaviour with humane corrective training and re-homing is not possible.The bodies of deceased military working dogs and horses, that have been put down at the Defence Animal Centre, are disposed of via a contract with Nottingham University Veterinary School. Military working animals that are put down elsewhere are disposed of by local contract in compliance with local regulations.

Secondary information