Jesse Lingard slammed for showing off ‘mutilated’ dogs after posting pics of pets with cropped ears on Instagram
FOOTY ace Jesse Lingard has been slammed for sharing pictures of his dogs’ “mutilated” cropped ears.
The Nottingham Forest midfielder uploaded a video and snaps of him playing with Creed and Cash, a Doberman and Mastiff-type breed, in his back garden.
But the post sparked a wave of fury among some of the 29-year-old’s 9.7 million Instagram followers who accused the star of animal cruelty.
Sharing Lingard’s pictures to Twitter, Vet Shaun McCormack raged: “Another day, another shallow celeb parading mutilated dogs on social media for klout, to make himself look hard.
“A cosmetic mutilation illegal on animal cruelty grounds.”
Ear cropping – often seen on Rottweillers – is illegal unless performed by a vet for medical reasons.
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It involves slicing the floppy part of the ear from the cartilage – often using razor blades and no pain relief – to make them appear upright.
The procedure changes the appearance of mutts purely for superficial reasons and is deemed extremely painful and unnecessary.
The RSPCA slam the practice – carried out when the dog is a puppy – as detrimental to a dog’s health, behaviour and welfare in both the short and long-term.
Lingard’s Instagram post – which raked in over 116,000 likes – was later flooded with comments condemning the former England player for the cruel procedure.
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Celeb Rory The Vet wrote: “The reason you’re getting so many negative comments here is because these dogs have been mutilated!
“Ear cropping is an abhorrent practice, done simply for looks and is an incredibly painful surgical procedure with months of splinting too.”
While another person chimed: “The sooner the loophole, allowing the import of cropped-eared dogs is closed, the better.”
But Marcus Rashford’s brother Dane appeared to cheer on Lingard, replying with three ‘fire’ emojis.
The Sun Online have approached Jessie Lingard’s management for comment.
Lingard is rumoured to have purchased the dogs from Chaperone K9 – a Leicestershire-based company that provides specially trained guard dogs.
A roster of other football stars have also opted for the same same company amid a wave of armed robberies hitting Premier League players.
It comes as comedian Ricky Gervais and ex-Emmerdale actress Gemma Atkinson are amongst a wave of stars campaigning to ban ear cropping.
Ricky, an animal rights activist, told The Sun: “It’s barbaric. It causes dogs so much suffering and is unnecessary.”
While former Love Island contestant Olivia Attwood launched a heated takedown of Joey Essex for his ear-cropped pooch.
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Speaking to The Sun on Thursday, the RSPCA warned about an alarming trend of ear cropping, reporting a 621% increase between 2015 and 2020.
A spokesperson for the charity added: “Sadly, ear cropping is still legal in some parts of the world and we’re seeing dogs being imported from abroad having undergone this barbaric practice.”