Today Kerser was scheduled to be murdered. Not because he harmed anyone, or had even threatened to. But because he has been determined to meet the visual criteria of a dog who cannot be registered in the state of Victoria.
He has been held at the RSPCA Victoria Head Office – the East Burwood shelter – for the past six months. The RSPCA nationally claim to be against ‘breed specific legislation’, or the laws that will be used kill Kerser. Nationally the RSPCA claim to be against killing dogs for how they look, rather than how they behave. Nationally, they claim their postion is that all dogs regardless of breed, when compared by weight and size, can be an equally an good pet, or a dangerous undersocialised menace.
It’s clichéd but it’s true – it really does depend on the owner and the individual dog.
However, in Victoria, the RSPCA’s public efforts have been very much designed to inflame and drive bad breed specific laws forward, rather than taking a strong stand that they are unscientific and inhumane.
Over the last five years, each time a dog incident happened, the RSPCA Victoria was there to incite hatred in the community
In 2009, when a group of four dogs killed one toddler and injured another in the house of their babysitter, the RSPCA Victoria spokesperson speculated that the dogs were ‘Bull Mastiffs’, and that the breed was as aggressive as a feral pig and were “easily stirred into a rage”.
Also in 2009, when a straying dog attacked another dog on the street, causing extensive injuries to the hands of the owner as he tried to protect his pet, the RSPCA Victoria spokesperson speculated that the dog was a ‘pit bull’ and that the breed was lethal, should be exterminated, and were not suitable as pets. He said they were a menace and a “time bombs waiting for the right circumstances”.
In 2010, when a lady’s arm was seriously injured by her own dog, the RSPCA Victoria spokesperson appeared on The 7PM Project speculating that the breed involved was a ‘pit bull’ and calling bull breed owners “anti-social” and imploring people to dob in the pets of their neighbours.
While just this year, when a group of roaming dogs hurt a passerby, the RSPCA Victoria spokesperson appeared on the oft-sensationalist 3AW radio show stating that American Stafford Terriers was “simply a euphemism for American Pit Bull Terriers”, further inciting hatred towards bull breed owners.
The RSPCA Victoria spokesperson has quite famously referred to ‘American pit bull terriers’ as a “wretched breed” and called for “the lot of them to be put down”.
In short, the RSPCA Victoria have not been a friend to bull breeds and their owners in the hostile political climate that has driven Victoria into legislation that can and does kill their pets. Regardless of the national position – that pesky sciency one – the RSPCA Vic has been for decades an integral part of passing ‘breed specific laws’ in the state.
Kerser is our country’s Lennox. He has become a international media sensation as bull breed owners from across the globe speak out about the injustice of the case.
This could have been an ideal opportunity for the RSPCA to finally stand up and be counted. To finally bring some authenticity to their position. To say what they really mean.
“We support killing Kerser and we’re going to make money doing it”.
But hangon, didn’t you say the RSPCA is against ‘BSL’?
Yes, in theory. But it is more of a passive ‘against’. They will still hold and kill dogs under the laws, even though as a private charity they have no obligation to.
If you were to visit their website to see their media releases this week and look for a piece on why BSL is wrong and Kerser should not be killed, you’d see there were none.
Kersers’ story is going crazy on social media. If you were to visit their Facebook page for their statement on Kerser, you would find an advert for fundraising.
So while they have been incredibly active in generating hatred for bull breeds, the RSPCA Victoria aren’t so forthcoming with a active campaign to save the life of one they’re scheduled to kill. Active in causing enormous problems with bad laws targeting certain breeds, but not so keen to stand up as a advocate for protecting people’s pets.
It’s worth noting no charity has to take any pet, ever. They can certainly accept the council tenders for certain councils and have agreements and the like. But how a charity operates is 100% at their discretion.
Each dog who enters the RSPCA Victoria is costed back to council at about $120. Every day a pet stays in care a ‘sustenance fee’ of about $20 per day. Kerser has been in the pound from December 2012 – now, making his current impound fee about $4,000.
A kennel is about 2m x 1.5m, or 3 metres squared. For the piece a land about the size of an average family loo, the RSPCA is raking in cash for holding death row dogs.
Plus there would be a modest fee for killing Kerser on the day.
All the while the RSPCA Victoria remain complicit in the execution, quite literally, of the wishes of state government, there is really no hope that the ‘death row’ dogs of Victoria will be given a voice. There is no hope that scientific approaches to dog management will become popular amongst the wider public, whilst the RSPCA are happy to continue to speak out in the public against certain breeds. And without an concerted effort to undo the damage that has been done to the reputation of bull breed – largely by their own organisation – it matters little what the ‘national’ RSPCA position on BSL is.
The RSPCA Victoria are simply happy to support and benefit from the deaths of dogs like Kerser.
Kerser has been given a second chance thanks to his owner, passionate animal advocates and the pet loving community. The Barristers Animal Welfare Panel intervened this afternoon to help secure a stay of execution of Kerser, pending filing of appeal papers. The Panel has agreed to arrange counsel to conduct the appeal.
In other news – major ‘animal welfare’ groups fail to make a peep.
Follow Kerser’s story at the follow links;
– Free Kerser
– Barristers Animal Welfare Panel
– Dogs On Trial DOT Victoria
thank you – let’s hope Kerser can go home and BSL laws stopped
RSPCA VICTORIA have been a strong voice against these laws and lobbied hard with the Australian Vet association for them not to be introduced. You could have encouraged people who read your blog to be a voice against these horrible laws but instead you again choose to bash the RSPCA with old selectively edited quotes. You could have posted many comments where they spoke out against these laws but it is clear why you choose not to do that. The state government hates the RSPCA for speaking out against these and other laws guess why the Minister was at LDH yesterday.
Yesterday the entire site at RSPCA Burwood needed to be evacuated due to a bomb threat putting the lives of animals being operated on at risk. If you want to continue to incite hatred with your campaign to discredit the RSPCA please remember the harm you are doing.
I’ve been blogging for coming up five years and have written on the badness of BSL on no less than 50 separate occasions. Regular readers of this blog know exactly how to be a voice against BSL.
The number of times “BSL” is mentioned on the RSPCA Vic website? Zero.
So if the RSPCA Victoria are being a ‘strong voice against these laws’ – they’re doing so in a remarkably quiet-barely-able-to-be-seen manner.
Not one of these quotes are ‘old’. Each one is the position taken by the RSPCA Victoria in the media after a dog incident – in the last five years. One of them was from last month. So if the RSPCA Victoria are being a ‘strong voice against these laws’ – they’re doing so in a dare-double-dare-reverse-psychology fashion. By bagging out the breeds they’re apparently ‘strongly’ lobbying for.
Or it may simply be your definition of being a ‘strong voice against these laws’ is different to mine. Mine includes actually putting a position out there and lobbying for it – not simply remaining mum and hoping no one asks. Or worse – throwing fuel on the BSL fire.
I’m not even going to justify your bomb comment with a response.
Absolutely mortified to read this, I donate on average $2000 a year in food an money to th RSPCA which will stop now, I will find another welfare organization that’s best interest lies with th animals it claims to care about and I shall show this to all I know an get them to show there friends as well an so on let th truth be told, shame on you RSPCA shame on you
Thank you thank you thank you, for wording so very well what I have been wanting to scream from the rooftops for the past few weeks, months, even years. You have a way with words, that get the point so easily and clearly across. The RSPCA and their stance on BSL and bully breeds in general has long been a hot topic – and more so the past few days with their refusal to support Jade & Kerser in any way. Turn a blind eye, sweep in under the carpet and let someone else deal with it – the great RSPCA motto.
In the opening statement is says that Kerser, due to BSL cannot be registered in Victoria, so rather than kill someones beloved family member, why don’t you give them the opportunity to either move interstate with their beloved family member or at least rehome him interstate!!!!(not that they should have to move) BSL is wrong!!!