END BREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION IN AUSTRALIA
In the wake of a recent dog attack, rather than addressing a flawed system and its need for change, the head of RSPCA Victoria compounded the existing problems with hype, hysteria, and nonsense with this public statement, in which he refers to pit bulls as 'time bombs': http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/rspca-victoria-president-dr-hugh-wirth-blogs-on-the-pit-bull-problem-in-victoria/story-e6frf7jo-1225788267670.
Now more than ever the Australian public needs good leadership and reliable information, to encourage responsible pet ownership, and ensure public safety.
While the rest of the world, most recently the UK and the Netherlands, push forward with progressive policies that favour responsible and safe dog ownership, Australia's situation spirals into tragedy and chaos: The press has attributed attacks by Lab crosses, Mastiffs, and many other breeds to pit bulls--most reporters cannot be relied upon for accurate breed identification-- and their stories fuel what has become a witch hunt. Attacks by others breeds, such as Australian Cattle Dogs are common, but seldom warrant a mention in the paper, or a visit from the local council. The negative hype surrounding certain breeds inspires negligent / abusive owners to seek them out, placing the dogs and the public at risk. A breed ban on American Pit Bull Terriers has forced the entire breeding practice into the hands of backyard breeders who are ruining the breed's reputation with poorly bred, temperamentally unsound dogs. Breed ignorance encourages the public to blame the dogs, rather than owners, for their own mismanagement.
Dogmagazine.net had this to say about the UK RSPCA's repeal of Breed Specific Legislation in January 2009:
The UK can put itself in a position to follow the example set by the Netherlands in repealing section 1 in favour of a law that will place the burden of responsibility on owners rather than terminating the lives of dogs who are guilty of nothing more than looking a certain way.
In the words of the ASPCA, Breed Specific Laws are damaging because:
Good owners and dogs are punished
BSL also causes hardship to responsible owners of entirely friendly, properly supervised and well-socialized dogs who happen to fall within the regulated breed. Although these dog owners have done nothing to endanger the public, they are required to comply with local breed bans and regulations unless they are able to mount successful (and often costly) legal challenges.
They impart a false sense of security
Breed-specific laws have a tendency to compromise rather than enhance public safety. When limited animal control resources are used to regulate or ban a certain breed of dog, without regard to behavior, the focus is shifted away from routine, effective enforcement of laws that have the best chance of making our communities safer: dog license laws, leash laws, animal fighting laws, anti-tethering laws, laws facilitating spaying and neutering and laws that require all owners to control their dogs, regardless of breed. -www.aspca.org
Please join me in urging Australian law makers and animal welfare agencies to educate the public and end the cruelty of B.S.L. Thank you!
In the wake of a recent dog attack, rather than addressing a flawed system and its need for change, the head of RSPCA Victoria compounded the existing problems with hype, hysteria, and nonsense with this public statement, in which he refers to pit bulls as 'time bombs': http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/rspca-victoria-president-dr-hugh-wirth-blogs-on-the-pit-bull-problem-in-victoria/story-e6frf7jo-1225788267670.
Now more than ever the Australian public needs good leadership and reliable information, to encourage responsible pet ownership, and ensure public safety.
While the rest of the world, most recently the UK and the Netherlands, push forward with progressive policies that favour responsible and safe dog ownership, Australia's situation spirals into tragedy and chaos: The press has attributed attacks by Lab crosses, Mastiffs, and many other breeds to pit bulls--most reporters cannot be relied upon for accurate breed identification-- and their stories fuel what has become a witch hunt. Attacks by others breeds, such as Australian Cattle Dogs are common, but seldom warrant a mention in the paper, or a visit from the local council. The negative hype surrounding certain breeds inspires negligent / abusive owners to seek them out, placing the dogs and the public at risk. A breed ban on American Pit Bull Terriers has forced the entire breeding practice into the hands of backyard breeders who are ruining the breed's reputation with poorly bred, temperamentally unsound dogs. Breed ignorance encourages the public to blame the dogs, rather than owners, for their own mismanagement.
Dogmagazine.net had this to say about the UK RSPCA's repeal of Breed Specific Legislation in January 2009:
The UK can put itself in a position to follow the example set by the Netherlands in repealing section 1 in favour of a law that will place the burden of responsibility on owners rather than terminating the lives of dogs who are guilty of nothing more than looking a certain way.
In the words of the ASPCA, Breed Specific Laws are damaging because:
Good owners and dogs are punished
BSL also causes hardship to responsible owners of entirely friendly, properly supervised and well-socialized dogs who happen to fall within the regulated breed. Although these dog owners have done nothing to endanger the public, they are required to comply with local breed bans and regulations unless they are able to mount successful (and often costly) legal challenges.
They impart a false sense of security
Breed-specific laws have a tendency to compromise rather than enhance public safety. When limited animal control resources are used to regulate or ban a certain breed of dog, without regard to behavior, the focus is shifted away from routine, effective enforcement of laws that have the best chance of making our communities safer: dog license laws, leash laws, animal fighting laws, anti-tethering laws, laws facilitating spaying and neutering and laws that require all owners to control their dogs, regardless of breed. -www.aspca.org
Please join me in urging Australian law makers and animal welfare agencies to educate the public and end the cruelty of B.S.L. Thank you!
The head of RSPCA Victoria in Australia recently denounced pit bulls as "time bombs" and urged them to be bred out of existence. We the undersigned request your help to discourage such appalling and misleading sentiments from animal welfare organisations and government bodies, and are calling for an end to the Australia-wide Breed Ban that supports this prejudice.
Australia falls behind most developed nations in regard to its out-dated, ineffective and draconian dog laws. The money and manpower spent in enforcing this legislation would be far better spent on educating the public on dog safety, encouraging responsible dog ownership, regulating, and where necessary, penalising irresponsible owners of all breeds.
Please join governments and councils in the the UK, Netherlands, USA, and Canada, to name a few, who are acknowledging that Breed Specific Legislation does not work, and proactively implementing policies that do. B.S.L. punishes responsible owners and results in the heartbreaking and senseless destruction of countless well-behaved family pets, whilst not adequately targeting the problem of bad owners and dangerous dogs. Statistics show it does not decrease dog bites or dog attacks.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and review this situation
carefully.
Yours Sincerely,
I have spent my life around dogs of all different shape, sizes and breeds. Most of the dogs we had as children and infact I have had as an adult have been Bull Terriers of mixes. The only dog to ever cause me and injury and draw blood was a Chihuahua. Not more than two weeks ago I saw a Staffy Bull Terrier cross get attacked by a Shitzu. Maybe we should ban those breeds too??
Here we go again, holocost being repeated only this time it's on dogs. What's wrong with you people, don't you realize that to pass BSL would mean that this is only the beginning. Eventually they will ban anything weighing more than 20 lbs. Do the research people, there are very few dog bites comparing to people that abuse children. Let's concentrate on the pedephiles, child labor, abusive parents first. Next thing you will see is your own rights being violated and there won't be anything you can do.
I have a Labrador and a American bulldog X the Lab has bitten me a few times accidentally cos i stepped on his foot/tail the Ambull never bites me even when i step on her in the dark in the middle of the night. My neighbours used to call the council about the vicious pitbull i owned alot and the rangers would come out and Hmmm and click their tongues at how agressive she was so i set up a surveilance system to get some piece of mind about it all and i caught the council ranger trying to let the dogs out one day...so much for their story that she was scaling a 6 foot cyclone fence to terrorise the neighbours. Yeah and we don't hear from the council or the neighbours about the dogs for a year since now they all know i have surveilance running 24/7
Dont ban breeds from Australia, just fine the owner whose neglected the dog and hasn't trained and brought up the dog correctly!!
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10:16 am PST, Feb 3,
Robbin L. Perry, New Jersey
An excerpt from Stephen Collier's Pit Bull Study found at http://www.dapbt.org/collier.htm . "Dog attacks are a significant public safety issue in Australia, as elsewhere. However, a tiny minority of the dogs in our communities bite people in any given year.17 The available data show clearly that the American Pit Bull Terrier is not involved in more attacks or serious attacks on people than other breeds - indeed, it is well down the lists of frequency of attack by breed. In America in the 1980s, the decade of the "pit bull panic", with an estimated pit bull population of 500,000 - I million,49 accepting the most damning figures, in any given year one pit bull in 62,500 to 125,000 killed a person. The average American person was at least five times more likely to murder somebody.4 The case that the APBT is an especially dangerous dog is not convincing. Though American data lend some support to this view, they are so seriously flawed as to be unreliable, and the sociology of the human-dog relationship is probably more important than inherited breed disposition. In Australia the available data show the APBT to be less dangerous than several other breeds in absolute numbers of attacks on people. There are no data available to assess breed attack rates relative to breed populations, so a definitive judgement on the relative danger of various breeds must be suspended. What emerges clearly from analysis of available data is the fact that attacks are committed by a small proportion of individuals of any breed." Please repeal breed specific legislation in Australia. Pit bulls and other dogs that are deemed dangerous are not the problem, irresponsible dog owners are. We should be promoting responsible dog ownership, and pass laws that punish irresponsible dog owners. We can pass leash laws, mandate micro-chipping to hold irresponsible dog owners responsible, and require dog owners to spay and neuter their dogs with the exception of licensed dog breeders. We recognize that we must work to strike a balance but this must be done through a Dangerous Dog Ordinance that every country has implemented. It should not single out any breed of dog, fair to all and applied as such. We should go after the irresponsible owners, the dog fighters and the animal abusers. Stop spending hard earned tax payer’s money on legislation that hurts your constituents and does not resolve a single thing. This legislation, when passed and enforced, costs each country or the state, a tremendous amount of funds, which is totally unnecessary. Instead, put the funding into animal shelters, spay and neuter programs and enforcing animal abuse laws and ordinances. This would certainly protect the general public in the long run, which is our intent. Please, repeal the breed bans in Australia! Studies prove it isn’t working; it hurts dog owning families, and kills many innocent dogs! Thank you! "The Greatness of a Nation and its Moral Progress can be JUDGED by the Way it Treats its Animals" ~Mahatma Gandhi |
Please share your thoughts and comments here.
Why are such laws even thought, its simply reactive. Why don’t we look at the type of people and the environments where there is potential for an innocent dog to be ill treated and which may make this dog become aggressive. There is so much which can be done instead of destroying innocent animals. We should be moving forward not backwards with Legislation ...
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Dont punish the dog. It is the bad owner that gets away with this crime. How conveniently for the owner because they know there are loopholes in the animal laws.
No bad dogs, just bad owners. To think otherwise you stereotype a group, and discriminate. Sadly, these individuals cannot speak out for themselves, so we must do it for them. Take the right path (legislate responsible dog ownership) rather than the easy path (banning breeds). Judge (and punish) the deed, not the breed. My staffy is the sweetest dog ever. Will not attack a thing. Except small white fluffy dogs. Why? Because as a puppy she was repeatedly attacked by one, whose owner thought it 'innocent' and 'cute' play. Bad owners (of *any* breed) are where our focus should be.
Dogs are like kids. We are all given free choice, but if you are raised right and given the chance to be loved, you will love and turn out ok in the end. It's not the breed, it's the owner.
We offer rehabilitation to criminals so why not our animals. Blame the deed not the breed, when will people learn?
How about dealing with the deed and NOT the breed. Maybe teaching children in schools on how to behave around any animal, be it their pet or a strange dog.
This is sad. Pit bulls aren't a dangerous breed, sure their lockjaws, but its the owner that makes them savage.
Ban the deed not the breed, its irresponsible owners that are causing these dogs to do what they do. Punish the irresponsible owners not the breed of dog.
Ban the deed, not the breed! Crack down on the HUMANS who misuse these dogs!
End Breed speciaif legistlation in Australia!!!!!
It is the people not the breed !!! Take them away and the same sickos will invent another breed..... In South America they already have done some awlful outcrosses...... Also Pitties are universal donors.....All breeds need them ....
BSL does not work! It is expensive and ineffective at addressing the real cause of the problem, bad owners. see http://network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/pitbulls for complete information on more than a decade of studies across the world.
Keep them around.
Personally, I have handled and rescued 100's of pitbulls and similar breeds and have NEVER had an issue. Discriminations is never a solution.
Make it harder for people to own these dogs e.g. they can only be brought from registered breeders, & have heavy fines for irrisponsible dog owners
BSL solves nothing!
i have one pit bull/ Shepard mix now and the one before was a pitbull/ Doberman mix. two of the sweetest and most loving kind dogs i have ever known. not a bad bone in skrapper's body and what a love sponge our sprockett is. blame the owners not the dogs!!!
