One of the major criticisms of the Victorian Government’s Breed Specific Laws judged on a bespoke visual identification guide (along with that the reality that the look of a dog being a poor predictor of that dog’s actual behaviour), is that the laws could capture practically ALL bull breed dogs.
It’s easy to get complacent and think that, as a ‘good’ person who loves their pet, that the laws could never affect your own family. Councils are reasonable aren’t they? You’re not a dog fighter, so simply you won’t ever have a problem.
Unfortunately, you could…
A distraught Olinda dog owner said dangerous dog laws don’t work, after her aged bull terrier was kept from her because Yarra Ranges Council mistook the animal for a pit bull.
Lee Hobart said 12-year old Rosie, a microchipped bull terrier, escaped from her Falls Rd property on May 3, and was picked up by a council ranger the next day. Rosie was found under the house of a nearby property.
Ms Hobart, 78, said she was not contacted by the council about Rosie and had to find out herself that the dog was at Animal Aid in Coldstream. She said she rang the council and Animal Aid on the Friday night, about five hours after Rosie disappeared.
“I was told I couldn’t have Rosie back because rangers though she was a pit bull,” she said. “Rosie is deaf and very old and I was desperate to get her back.”
Why wasn’t this microchipped dog taken straight home?
If the dog needed to be ‘checked’ why wasn’t the owner phoned to let her know what was going on?
With so much emphasis on microchipping being the ‘solution’ to lost pets in Victoria, why didn’t this chip offer this owner any peace of mind?
Would the Council eventually have made contact? Or were they simply hoping if they kept quiet no one would claim this ‘pit bull’?
When a nearly 80 year old woman nearly loses her peaceful senior pet to our animal management system, these laws aren’t making the community safer, but putting all of our pets at risk.
I hope Rosie and her owner were reunited to live out the rest of their days together! xoxo
Shame on you, Yarra Ranges.
This is is a great example of how the visual identification guide does not work,and based on decisions from people who seem to have no idea about dogs or dog breeds.
I have lived with Bull Terriers and Staffords all my life, and it is clear to me that Rosie is an old dog, and a Bull Terrier, not a Pit Bull
So at 12 years old, when you are old and deaf, and close to the end of the life span for Bull Terriers, you are locked up for being a ‘dangerous dog” . How scared she must be and missing her Mother.
Why was Rosie next door, was she scared of something, did anyone ask why? The microchip would have helped find her family, and if she is not registered, maybe that is because not everyone can afford to register their dog every year.
Thanks