Victoria: new laws allow officers to immediately destroy unidentified dogs

I will blog more on this soon…

NEW LAWS TO CRACKDOWN ON DANGEROUS DOGS
From the Minister for Agriculture
Thursday, 06 May 2010

Tough new laws to crack down on dangerous dogs, including increased powers to immediately destroy them have been introduced to State Parliament.

Agriculture Minister Joe Helper said the Government was committed to giving local councils the powers they need to ensure the safety of families, the elderly and young children in Victoria.

“Dangerous dogs have no place on streets and neighbourhoods of Victoria,” Mr Helper said.

“The Domestic Animals Amendment (Dangerous Dogs) Bill 2010 will build on our previous work to remove vicious and aggressive dogs from our community.

“These tough new laws will give council officers the authority to seize and destroy unregistered or unidentifiable dogs found unsupervised in a public place if they reasonably believe the dog is a danger to public safety.

“The proposed legislation will also empower an authorised officer to immediately destroy any dog that they believe will cause imminent serious injury or death to a person or another animal.”

Mr Helper said all dog owners had a responsibility to ensure their pet was controlled, registered and identifiable.

“Around 40 per cent of owners failed to register their animals. This proposed legislation will double the maximum penalties for not applying for registration and for an animal not wearing a council identification marker when off the owners’ premises. “

Mr Helper today detailed the crackdown in amendments to the changes to the Domestic Animals Act 1994 submitted to State Parliament. Others changes include:

* Tougher penalties for the owners of any dog which is found wandering the streets;
* New powers for the Magistrates’ Court to order an owner guilty of an offence under the Act to attend a responsible dog ownership training course or for the owner to take their dog to an approved obedience training course;
* A $1 increase in the cost of cat and dog registration, with proceeds to fund responsible pet ownership education programs and information, council officer training, government advisory support services for councils and animal management research; and
* Broadening the criteria for the declaration of a “menacing” and “dangerous dog”. A dog that causes a non-serious bite injury can be declared a “menacing dog” and a dog that has been the subject of a second or subsequent attack or rushing offence can be declared a ”dangerous dog”, meaning their owners will have to meet strict conditions.

Mr Helper said the Bill also set down clear criteria to help councils determine if a dog should be declared as a restricted breed dog. If a dog fitted within the standard it would be included in the definition of a restricted breed dog whether or not the dog was a cross breed.

He said a two-year amnesty would allow owners to register restricted breed dogs under the new criteria and bring them under the existing strict controls, with new rights of appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.