In Australia, the towns of Campbelltown and Wollondilly place heavy restrictions on owners of Pitbull type dogs. The city councils are concerned that some owners may not be in compliance with the law and are keeping Pitbulls they haven’t registered. As such, and in response to the tragic death of a child who was killed by a Pitbull type dog in Melbourne recently, the city councils are offering amnesty to unregistered Pitbull owners.
It’s really a swell deal. The owner turns in the unregistered dog and gets a fabulous prize: no charges will be filed! But that’s not all. The dog too gets a fabulous prize – well, actually the dog just gets killed. But did I mention no charges will be filed against the owner?!
Effective legislation at its finest.
What’s the over/under on how many dogs will be turned in?
I was going to say ZERO but I guess you never know – there MAY be someone in one of those cities who is feeding and caring for his pet in the hopes of one day being offered a chance to turn him in to be killed by strangers. Maybe.
Anyone we can write to in order to suggest NO BSL???
Olivia Newton John?
(My way of saying I don’t know.)
Stoopid me, What’s BSL?
BSL means Breed Specific Legislation: laws aimed at one breed or several types of breeds labeling them “dangerous” without taking into consideration the individual personalities of the dogs, their owners, the problems of breed identification when there is a dog bite or attack, or the many factors that go into why a dog would bite or attack. Also Known As: Bull Shit Legislation.
Sadly there is already BSL in Australia. Pit bulls are illegal to import or sell. (English and American staffys are fine however). You can own them but they are automatically dangerous and have lots of conditions regarding housing etc. Other dogs which never really had a presense here are also banned under the same conditions- Japanese Tosa, Fila Brasiliaro (sp), Argentinian Dogo (sp again) and a few other rarities. The bans are based even less on fact than the bans in the US and UK. We never *had* a pit bull problem here. Only mastiff fans like me have even heard of the other ones – I’m just lucky my corso dog isn’t covered in the legislation.
So we have dud legislation that randomly bans a few breeds and those bans are based on media reports out of other countries.
The bans have no impact on actual dog bites, like anywhere else. We have a really small ‘actual’ pit bull population, so even population wise there can’t be many bites from them. Dogs are only called pitbulls when they have a blocky head and bite someone or act unfriendly in a pound. Otherwise they are just happy-go-lucky staffies or staffy crosses.
The attack in Melboure was horrific. But there is little to no information that I’ve found regarding what situation the dog was living in. All I’ve heard is that it’s a ‘pit bull’, it attacked unprovoked, it belonged to the neighbour and no one had seen it before.
Sounds like it’s either gone mad from social isolation in it’s back yard (not illegal) or it showed signs of aggression in the past with a previous owner, if it were a new dog to the neighbours.
Course, all that matters is it has a blocky head. That’s the total cause of the attack! Better ban them all!! (Oh wait, we already did…)
I really really feel for the family though. They had nothing to do with it, yet they lost so much.
I hope no one turns their non aggressive dog in though!
– Bronwyn from Australia.
This is such a great idea that I’ve decided to start my own amnesty program.
My college roommate from college STILL owes me $20 after one of our Kegs N Eggs adventures. I have no idea where he lives or what he’s doing now, or even if he’s still alive.
But if he brings me the money he owes me before the end of the year, I will refrain from beating his ass when he hands it over.
In order to qualify, I believe you need to collect the $20 AND kill your old roomate’s dog. Technically. If you are adhering to the rulz.
Several years ago, Kansas City, KS ran a similar amnesty program — and literally hundreds of dogs were turned in. I had one friend, who I consider to be more savvy than most, mention he thought it was ‘nice” that they were not just going out and fining owners. I asked him, “you know what happens to the dogs, right?” He hadn’t thought about that and was horrified when the reality hit him that they weren’t headed off to some doggie beach resort.
Brent, how long ago was that?
With how contentious breed legislation has become, and the rise of social media, one would hope that people wouldn’t be so naive anymore. But one never knows.
Joel: It was in 2006 – -in response to a dog attack fatality by two dogs. The victim had called animal control “several” times about the aggressive dogs that were living in an abandoned house next door and AC never came out to deal with the dogs. This was KCK’s “solution” to the problem — rounding up dogs under the city’s 15 year breed ban.
And I bet no one in Kansas City has been bitten by a dog since, right?
The morally bankrupt province of Ontario, Canada pulls the same shite with owners of dogs that have done nothing wrong other than be a politically incorrect appearance. They’re picking on only lower-income and/or less-educated people; the middle and high income people I see with “pit bulls” don’t seem concerned. Of course, the latter can afford lawyers to fight.
that is just shameful
If someone comes up with a coat for the dog to wear, disguising its looks, it should fool the fools who know nothing about dogs anyway. A doggie fur coat making doggie appear long haired would be so cute & appropriate in Canada cold climate.
Ask and you shall receive:
http://www.attackchi.org.au/
Oh my stars.
It’s probably going to feel like 95 degrees F. here this week in the southern part of Ontario, Canada!
Taking a good look at the site with the dog conversion kits, & I think they’re fake. The other photos submitted look like actual standard poodles compared to the Doberman in the poodle costume. Site appears to be more like a commentary on BSL than a site actually offering dog costumes. Interesting, glad you shared it.
For those interested in BSL in Ontario, please see Stop K9 Profiling, http://www.stopk9profiling.com/ .
Yea, I saw that years ago when BSL first became a real issue for people in Canada. I never laughed so hard!
Clarifying point: They are not rounding up dogs and killing them. Owners of Pit BUlls (and soon to be crossbreeds) have until September 30th to put their dogs on the dangerous dog registry. That’s the amnesty, since by law, all Pit Bulls are supposed to be on the dangerous dog registry, castrated, microchipped and muzzled.
After September 30th, THEN it’s a free-for-all canine genocide!
The first sentence of the article says:
“CAMPBELLTOWN and Wollondilly councils are offering owners of pitbull terriers and American pitbulls the chance to surrender their pets in an amnesty until September 30.”
Late in the article: “The amnesty gives pitbull owners an opportunity to surrender their dog to council free of charge, and with no questions asked.”
It doesn’t say *register* their pets, it says surrender.
I understand what the article says, but that is not what the law says.
Last year, the state amended their Domestic Animal Act putting five breeds (APBT, Fila, Tosa, Presa, Dogo) on the restricted registry list. It stipulated that owners had two years of amnesty to get their dogs put on that list.
In light of the fatal mauling by a mixed breed dog of Ayen Chol, parliament has decided to not only end amnesty early by more than a year (Sept 30), they are pushing through legislation that will allow councils more leeway in killing dogs and will add crossbreeds to the list.
But currently, amnesty is what the state’s parliament meant it to mean – dog owners who had restricted breeds prior to January 2010 have until September 30th to put them on the registry and comply with those requirements. That councils are choosing to violate their own state’s law is indicative of the level of fear-mongering occurring right now.
There is no repercussions for what the two councils are doing, of course, but it is not what their own law states for amnesty.
Here is the particular section: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/daa1994163/s41ea.html
Marji and/or Bronwyn: Are either of you IN AU? If so, can you provide us here with the emails of the appropriate parties to write and register our complaints about their BSL???
Hi Morgana,
I am in Oz but don’t actually know who to write to! Some of it is federal legislation, some is state, some is local council.
The lady who seems most on top of things in the blogsphere is at http://www.savingpets.com.au/
She likely has a few emails up her sleve.
– Bronwyn.
Hi Morgana,
Nope, I’m in the United States.
The law abolishing the 2-yr amnesty went into effect Wednesday.
For those in Victoria, I would suggest they contact their representatives in Parliament, both in the Assembly and Council: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/assembly (on the right is a postcode search to find out who your representative is) and write letters to editors of local papers covering the story. The furor and fear-mongering is pretty egregious.
Just went to site – thanks Houlahan – made me laugh. But I’m remembering once years ago an irate irrational lady was hell bent on getting a dog killed for snapping at her obnoxious child (No bite a justified response on behalf of the dog – in my opinion)
My friend in order to save her dog disguised him with a new haircut and name…it worked – dog lived many happy years without further incident.