On the 25th March 2012, Rocket was stolen from his family. He was locked up, allowed no visits and kept in a secret location by Cardinia Shire Council.
After a failed attempt to secure his freedom through VCAT in July 2012, Rocket’s family took their case to the Supreme Court (December 2012) and won. This should have guaranteed Rocket’s freedom and allowed him to return to his family.
But Cardinia Council were determined to kill Rocket. They kept the dog, and took the case back to VCAT.
15 months after he was originally seized, Rocket’s case was heard for a third time and VCAT released him. All of that time, Rocket was forced to endure living in a pound on death row. And yet, he still had a wag in his tail when he was reunited with his family.
When determining that Rocket fell ”far short” of the definition of a pit bull, Judge Macnamara commented on the vague and imprecise nature of the current legislation:
”When the standard requires the application of various adjectives such as ‘large’, ‘proportionate’, and ‘powerful’, these can only make sense relative to some comparison,” he said. ”Whether the comparison is with some sort of average dog, a perfect exemplar of the breed American pit bull terrier or … some ‘Platonic’ dog, is not entirely obvious.”
… and was sympathetic to the council officers trying to enforce the faulty laws:
”You’re thinking, ‘I didn’t write this rubbish’. God knows who did?”
Doug was just a baby at six months old, when he was taken from his home on 20 April 2012. He was held and assessed a couple of months later when he was around 9 months old.
His owner took his case to VCAT, but lost. He was due to be killed in August 2012, but a last minute reprieve came when his owner was able to secure a Supreme Court hearing. This case was won and Doug was returned on 2nd July 2013 – 15 months after he was originally seized.
Barristers Animal Welfare Panel and Williamstown solicitor Michael Faltermaier highlighted the injustice of breed specific laws in determining whether a dog should live or die:
“He’s a playful dog without a mean bone in his body. He has never attacked or bitten anybody yet was sentenced to death for the presumption by council officers that he could be a restricted breed based on his appearance.”
The only way is down in Victoria. Although recently in the media spruiking supposedly breed neutral laws:
It is not difficult to see where the government are really headed. Councils are forking out tens of thousands of dollars on lost cases and are pressuring government to support them by loading the laws in their favour.
Agriculture and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh this month:
“It’s part of their makeup, that at some point in their lives (‘pit bulls’) may choose to attack.”
Premier Denis Napthine said this week:
“Let’s get rid of American pit bulls. They’re just bred for attacking and they can do enormous damage,”
We’ve forshadowed a reverse onus of proof, with regard to the identity of breed types and dangerous dog breeds.
What does that mean? It means, government has not learned a thing since implementing these failed laws. And it means cases like Rocket and Doug’s will not end in the dog returning home in future. Because these, and all the other cases where dogs have successfully been released, hinged on Council being unable to prove that the dogs met the standard.
If in future, dogs are deemed to be ‘guilty of being a restricted breed until proven innocent’, owners will have practically no recourse to defend their pets. Councils will no longer have to prove that a dog meets the standard – it will simply be assumed that they do. Victoria is headed further down the rabbit’s hole, with dogs who’ve done nothing wrong on death row, while the ‘improved’ legislation deliberately leaves their families very few options to retrieve them.
Where is Victoria’s BSL headed? Expect to see less ‘Dougs’ and ‘Rockets’ and much, much more killing…
See also: Dogs on Trial
