EU bans giving bones to dog owners

Butchers are being threatened with fines if they give bones away to dog owners.

They are being sent letters telling them that a new European directive bans the traditional practice.

In future, Britain's 10,000 butchers will have to pay for the bones to be incinerated rather than hand them free to customers for their pets.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs today confirmed the Brussels ban.

It said the bones are now considered "waste" which must be properly disposed of.

A spokesman said: "Customers can take bones away with them when they buy the deboned meat if it is for human consumption.

"But if the bone is waste or for pet food then it's a byproduct - and cannot be passed to the public."

Aberystwyth butcher Aled Morgan, 35, one of the first to receive a warning letter, said: "I just don't see where the EU is coming from. It's just going to cost butchers at least £2,000 a year."

Local dog owner Martin Swanson, 32, said: "It seems to me to be another barmy EU directive."