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In
defence of the dog
On Wednesday, 6th February 2002, Kennel Club representatives travelled to the European Parliament, Strasbourg, to make a presentation to MEPs of the ‘Intergroup On The Welfare And Conservation Of Animals’. The talk was entitled ‘Canine Breed Specific Legislation Within Europe’ and The Kennel Club was accompanied by members of DominoDogsDeutschland (DDD), who had travelled to give a first hand account of the situation in Germany. The meeting was heralded a success by all. The presentation had been co-ordinated by Theresa Villiers MEP, who has been extremely pro-active in lobbying against Breed Specific Legislation in Europe and, with her UK Parliamentary colleagues, has attended Kennel Club events to show her support for the Domino Campaign and even handed a petition into 10 Downing Street. Over 50 MEPs and their representatives attended the meeting, representing European countries including the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal and Holland. Germany, a country considered largely responsible for this issue due to the draconian canine legislation that has been implemented there, was not represented. Proceedings were opened by Mrs Villiers, who outlined the current situation in Germany, having commented on the flawed UK Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA) 1991 and the problems that this piece of ‘knee jerk’ legislation had caused. Theresa then advised the audience that she had received a great deal of e-mails regarding the issue in Germany and other areas of Europe, and she then mentioned the existence of the Domino campaign, originally conceived in the UK, but now thriving in Germany also! The next speaker was Harald Wiegand, Chairman of DDD, who gave an emotive overview of the German situation, where the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier and a wide array of other breeds are currently being persecuted following a fatal dog attack carried out by an American Staffordshire Terrier and Pit Bull Terrier. He outlined that there was no rationale for Germany’s decision to outlaw these breeds, but still the country persecutes dogs and penalises dog owners, whilst failing to respond to the European Commission’s request to provide scientific evidence that proves the Stafford or Bull Terrier is more likely to bite than other breeds. Caroline Kisko, Secretary of The Kennel Club, then discussed the DDA and the problems and heartbreak to both dogs and owners that this legislation had caused. The Group were interested to learn of the confusion that had arisen from dogs being wrongly accused of conforming to Pit Bull ‘type’ and the resulting distress this had caused to owners and their dogs when their much loved Stafford or Bull Terrier, or even cross breed, was destroyed or imprisoned. Mrs Kisko mentioned that the situation had improved since 1997, when judges were given discretion to remove the compulsory destruction order, but warned that this change to the law was under threat due to the ‘Dino’ case. Dino the German Shepherd Dog is facing a destruction order, although the case is under appeal. Mrs Kisko then concluded the talk by explaining why breed specific legislation was not the solution, and why legislation should be in place, if considered necessary, to ‘Punish the deed, not the breed’, based on the particular circumstances. Q & A A
question and answer session then took place and some interesting
points were raised. It became clear to all that the issue
of ‘dangerous dogs’ was largely due to the actions
of irresponsible owners, who either deliberately train their
dogs to be aggressive - the German situation is a prime example,
as the owner of the dogs that killed Volkan was a convicted
criminal - or do not grasp the concept of responsible dog
ownership and allow their dogs to become out of control. It
was also felt that tougher penalties should be introduced
against the owner as, after all, very few dogs are born aggressive.
They should learn about ‘acceptable’ behaviour from
their owners.
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