Dave
Levy
Before I say anything about dogs, Staffords, Pitbulls or any other,
I want to say how sorry I am that yet another child has been killed.
It is indeed a tragedy as is any occasion where a youngster is lost
but I can appreciate the added horror that many people will feel where
a pet dog has been the cause.
Whenever
there is a serious and especially a fatal dog incident the media takes
up the issue and frequently homes in on the wrong target. I have attached
a copy of an article I wrote (It's time
to protect the public) that was published in the Kennel Gazette
back in 2003 where I set out my thoughts on what we should be doing
to protect the public from bad owners following an attack in Wolverhampton
by what were apparently mastiff crosses. At that time I ended with the
statement “Leah Preston deserves to grow up knowing that her pain
has at least resulted in changes that will prevent her own children
from suffering similar traumas.”
Since
then a 5 month old baby, Lee Deacon was killed by two guard dogs (Rottweilers)
and now another child, Ellie Lawrenson has been killed be her uncle’s
pet (apparently a “Pitbull type”). Numerous other children
and adults will have suffered serious injuries and still the public
perception is “pitbull bad – other dogs good”. Surely
it is time the media and authorities begin to seriously look at an alternative
approach. Banning Pitbulls has not worked and will never stop children
getting injured and even killed.
Of
course the problem for Staffords and Stafford owners is that most people
can’t tell the difference and so neighbours frightened by the
mass media coverage are likely to report neighbour and this can lead
to the same sort of long and expensive court cases that discredited
the original Dangerous Dogs Act in the first place.
There
is a common factor in the 3 cases I refer to above and it is not the
breed of dog involved. Careful ownership and an understanding of dog
mentality is surely the only basis for reducing the number of dog attacks
to a minimum.
Kennel
Club registered Staffords are relatively safe under the current DDA
although legally there is no reason for the Courts to take that documentation
as conclusive as evidence of a dog’s “type”. More
threatened are the many thousands of unregistered Staffords and especially
Stafford crosses that whilst not being overly aggressive, never the
less, have some physical characteristics of the Pitbull Terrier. It
is fairly clear that if you cross a Great Dane with a Labrador, some
of the progeny are going to fit the characteristics of the “pitbull
type” and be deemed “dangerous” despite not having
any pitbull genes at all.
I have
personally been involved in campaigning against breed specific legislation
since 1990 when I was still a trustee of PRO-Dogs national charity and
subsequently as Secretary of the SBT Breed Council and then KC Breed
Liaison Officer. Throughout that time I have seen petitions and public
meetings organised and in my opinion, they have rarely served a useful
purpose.
What
can be done very successfully is for individuals to visit their local
MP and/or Councillors, write to their own local newspapers and generally
promote responsible ownership. However, this needs to be a long term
plan and not just a reaction to the recent tragic events in Merseyside.
If you are a member of a breed club then why not invite the local newspaper
editor or chief of police to one of your shows? Talk to them and let
them know that there are many tens of thousands of perfectly good pet
dogs in this country.
Please
be assured that there is now much greater effort being co-ordinated
to prepare an alternative set of legislation that will deal with the
real causes of dog attacks, i.e. bad owners. This has been going on
ever since the DDA was last amended in 1997 but gathered tremendous
momentum after the attack on Leah Preston around 2003. This involves
most of the major canine organisations in the UK plus local council
representatives and the police. We are hoping that there will be both
an intermediate press release within a couple of weeks and a full proposal
ready for discussion with the Government by the summer.
What
we must avoid is alienating the non dog owning public and whilst the
media is certainly not being helpful at this moment, there are signs
that they do not want to follow the same ridiculous path as 1990 and
may be open to new ideas.
Please
don’t expect me or a small band of others to campaign to protect
your breed for you. Good luck with any efforts you make to deal with
the current bad publicity for dogs in general and particularly where
our Stafford is getting roped in too. Rest assured that there is at
least a chance that we may be able to bring some sanity to the legislation
and actually introduce laws that will reduce such attacks and genuinely
help to protect both the general public and dog owners.
Leah
Preston, Lee Deacon and Ellie Lawrenson deserve that their pain won’t
have been in vain.
David
Levy
P.S.
I was the KC Breed Liaison Officer until midnight on 31st December.
This may be my last report so thank you to those who have commented
on my years in office and good luck to my successor.
Deed
not Breed Radio 4 Law and Order read
more.....
Statement
issued by the President of the French breed club read
more.....
