While other countries have started to move away from banning breeds and are taking steps to revoke breed specific laws, simply because they do nothing to reduce the number of dog bites, the RSPCA’s Hugh Wirth is stuck in the 1970’s, working hard to generate hysteria on the back of a recent dog attack;
THE RSPCA has renewed calls for a ban on American pit bulls after a man was attacked and his pet dog killed yesterday.
RSPCA Victoria president Dr Hugh Wirth said the dogs were a menace and were not suitable as pets for anyone.
“They are time bombs waiting for the right circumstances,” Dr Wirth said.
“The American pit bull terrier is lethal because it was a breed that was developed purely for dog fighting, in other words killing the opposition.
“They should never have been allowed into the country. They are an absolute menace.”
So with pit bulls being banned in Victoria for years, how’s the legislation working?
An APBT can only be legally seized by a municipal Local laws officer under the provisions of the Domestic Animals Act 1994 concerning the ownership of declared Dangerous Dogs. All APBTs are automatically declared Dangerous Dogs. In some cases the dog will be held in a pound until the results of a court case against the owner. The magistrate may order the dog euthansed. On the other hand if the APBT committed offences outside your property the DAA permits the dog to be euthansed without further reference to the owner – eg what occurred in the attack yesterday.
The current law in Victoria aims to discourage ownership of the APBT and to lower the numbers by “breeding the APBT out”. The law is not effectively achieving this because it can only be enforced by Local government and most municipal council do not consider this task much of a priority. The current legislation to achive the breeding out of the APBT is good in theory but has failed through lack of rigorous enforcement.
Hugh Worth – Live Chat
I always find it interesting when groups enact legislation that fails, they immediately call to do exactly the same thing, but with more enthusiasm. The very definition of insanity.
So if we know what isn’t working – do we know what is working?
Check out the now famous, Calgary model
In 2008, Calgary has record low number of aggressive dog incidents
Well, the city of Calgary had the lowest number of aggressive dog incidents that they’ve had in over 25 years. Last year, the city with over 1 million population, recorded 340 aggressive dog incidents, 145 of which were bites.
In 1985, the city (which had a population of 600,000 at the time) had 1,938 aggressive dog complaints, including 621 bites. You can see their progression charted out here.
Bill Bruce, and the rest of the folks in Calgary, have opted to take a breed neutral approach to their animal control and instead of focusing on breeds, focused on the reasons behing aggressive dog incidents.
“We want to look at everything that led up to an aggressive dog attack,” said Bruce. “We’re hoping to find four to six common things that people do that causes dogs to bite. Our goal is not to have anyone bitten by a dog.”
It should also be noted that it appears that the population of ‘pit bulls’ in Calgary is increasing during this time when dog bites are going down.
KC Dog Blog
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Calgary has a 90-95% dog licensing compliance rate.
Every dollar that they raise from animal licensing (and fines for non-compliance) go back into funding animal control — not back into the city’s slush fund. So with an operating budget of $3.5-4.0 million, they are able to really do some things right with their animal control department.
They strongly encourage all people who license their dogs to also have them microchipped (which allows the dogs to be scanned and the owner determined immediately). Every animal control vehicle is equipped with a scanner — so if they find a stray dog, the animal control officer can instantly scan the dog for the chip, and deliver the dog home free of charge (although there are fines if your dog becomes a frequent flyer).
This home delivery a) is a service for people who obey the rules and b) saves money in animal control costs because stray dogs seldom even make it to their shelter. They are returned home where the dog belongs. The city then doesn’t incur the costs of putting the dog in the shelter, maintaining the dog while it’s in the shelter, food etc. Bruce’s goal for next year is to gett 50% of the dogs returned directly home without ever reaching the shelter.
If a dog does end up making it to the shelter, its photo is taken immediately and placed on their webpage within 15 minutes of the dog reaching the shelter. All the dogs in the shelter are treated for the basic diseases – -and if a dog is found injured, animal control will take the dog to a vet. The vets treat the dogs because a) animal control is usually able to find the owner of the dog because they’re all licensed and b) if they don’t, animal control will cover the medical costs associated with treating that dog. Wow.
Calgary built a new shelter for their animals about 5-8 years ago that is state of the art…and has never been filled to its capacity.
Calgary also focuses a lot of its energies on education and encouraging responsible dog ownership. They have a full time staff member, that is trained in education, that puts together a public education program. They have six specific programs that are part fof their public school’s curriculum that emphasizes respect for living things.
Calgary also has 140 dedicated off-leash areas for dogs — so that’s 140 “dog parks”. Kansas City, MO is struggling to find a way to get a second one. These off-leash areas provide a ton of areas for socialization for the dogs to learn how to interact with other dogs and other people.
The net results of their efforts have been impressive. Over the past 18 years, the city of Calgary has cut their number of dog bites and chases by more than 50% (all the while, the human and dog population of Calgary has doubled). Last year calgary only had to euthenize 256 animals (Kansas City, KS alone euthenized 5,000 DOGS last year, the KC metro area kills in the neighborhood of 40,000 dogs and cats each year). Almost all of the euthenizations came from dogs that had behavioral or health issues. Bruce estimates that Calgary will become a true no-kill city within the next 3-5 years.
KC Dog Blog
That kind of success certainly puts the failed Victorian experience into perspective. All the while we allow so called ‘experts’ who have pushed their ineffective ideas for decades drive discussions here in Australia, we’re doomed to keep chasing our tails with legislation that hasn’t worked and will never work.
BSL has not one single case study of having been successful in improving public safety. Anywhere. Ever. It is time to put the focus on the behavior of the dog in determining its aggression. The idea of killing a friendly family pet because of how it looks is absurd…and everyone should be dismayed by it.
KC Dog Blog
Make no mistake what we have here isn’t a ‘dog breed’ problem; it’s a people problem. One that will only be resolved once we stop looking for quick fixes and start looking at smarter ways to manage people and their pets.
Read more on the model that could save the lives here:
Municipal Animal Programs That Work – Best Friends
“It’s about Human Responsibilityâ€, The Calgary Model for Animal Services
