Scottish SPCA urge 'deed not breed' approach to Bully XL controls
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ANIMAL welfare charity the Scottish SPCA has voiced further misgivings over plans by the Scottish Government to ban the Bully XL dog breed.
Such a move would bring Scotland into line with England, where a ban on the breed is now in force.
While supporting moves to protect the public from dog attacks, the Scottish SPCA have raised concerns about using a whole dog breed ban to tackle it.
Scottish SPCA Chief Superintendent, Mike Flynn, said: “The SSPCA has long opposed any legislation that focuses specifically on certain types of dogs.
“We fully support legislation to protect the public.
“We are deeply concerned about the rise in dog control related incidents, and have pushed for steps to be taken to protect the public. However, we know that any breed of dog can be potentially out of control and dangerous in the wrong hands, and we strongly believe there are much more effective ways of protecting public safety.
“We are therefore not in support of this legislation.
“We will be working with the Scottish Government in the hope that the ban in Scotland will be workable and enforceable, and handled better in Scotland than happened in England and Wales.
“In particular, we’re calling on the government to put in place an effective public information and education campaign to help caring owners understand how to exempt their dogs.”
For this legislation to be practicable and enforceable, the charity is urging the Scottish Government to: Ensure that any legislation is introduced with a sufficient transition period, to ensure that owners have the time and support needed to be able to exempt their dogs; Ensure that the teams responsible for enforcing this law – the police and local authorities – have the resources and training they need before the ban begins, to ensure that no more dogs than absolutely necessary become caught up in this; Ensure that there are clear pathways to financial support for owners to comply with the exemption in an already difficult economic climate; Build in sufficient time frames and support the vet profession in Scotland to ensure that they have the capacity to neuter the potentially thousands of dogs to comply with the ban, which risks owners and dogs being penalised; Work with rescue centres in Scotland whose staff face being forced to put to sleep pet animals simply because of the way they look.
Mr Flynn continued: “We are all heartbroken that some dogs may be put to sleep as a result of this government action, and we are determined to campaign for meaningful change to best protect public safety and dog welfare.
“If the Scottish Government also believes in a 'deed not breed' approach to managing the control of dangerous dogs, we are confused by their failure to target the real issue – irresponsible breeding and irresponsible ownership.
“The Scottish SPCA believes firmly that anyone found guilty of owning a dangerous dog that has been involved in an attack should be automatically banned for life from owning another dog.
“Our thoughts are with the families of those who have been injured or killed by dogs. We want to see an end to irresponsible ownership and low-welfare breeding practices, and will continue to campaign for proper enforcement through the police and Scottish courts.”
