MARCH 2005THE STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER BREED COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
PRO’S REPORT ON THE MEETING HELD AT THE COACH AND HORSES, MARKFIELD ON THE 19TH MARCH 2004
In the absence of the Chairman Patrick McGlynn, Malcolm Boam kindly agreed to take the chair and opened the meeting at 11. 05am.
There were 15 constituent clubs present:- Alyn and Deeside, Downlands, East Anglia, East Midlands, Merseyside, Morecambe Bay, Northern Counties, North East, North West, North of Scotland, Notts and Derby, Potteries, Scottish Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club, Southern Counties and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club.
Mr. Jim Beaufoy has resigned as the KCBLO, and subject to the Kennel Club’s agreement Mr David Levy was proposed and seconded to take over on a temporary basis.
FREE DISCUSSION PERIOD.
The PRO has been asked to look in and research the cost of setting up and maintaining a dedicated web site for the Breed Council, as the information on the link that the Breed Council has with www.stafford.co.uk could really do to be run independently. The PRO will report back with the required information at the next meeting.
The subject of rescue was discussed at some length, as it is very much an ongoing and increasing problem. There are all over the country free papers available, and in a lot of areas it has been noted that the number of litters of Staffordshire Bull Terriers is on the increase. It has also been noted that there appears to be some confusion with dogs being registered with the Dog Lovers Association, and the public were sometimes confusing this with Kennel Club registered animals. The Pro has been asked to prepare a short statement for inclusion in as many of the papers as a possible warning and to advise the general public to check the puppy’s registration documents and to make sure that if they are looking for a puppy that is registered with the Kennel Club to make sure that they see the Kennel Club registration documents of the mother and puppies (if possible) and that they are not buying a puppy that is only registered with the Dog Lover’s Association. If there was any doubt they should go to the Kennel Club puppy line for telephone numbers of KC registered litters available.
Although the problem of rescue is never going to go away, it hoped that by educating the general public and making as much information available to them as possible it will help.
Attention was drawn to the Kennel Club code of ethics regarding the breeding of bitches and concern was expressed at number of litters that have been registered to some bitches. The delegates have been asked to go back to their
Clubs with a view to asking the Breed Council at the next meeting to write to the Kennel Club for an explanation.BREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION
There has been a disastrous outcome in Ontario, Canada, i.e. the banning of Staffordshire Bull Terriers (which come under the classification of Pitbull Terriers) with effect from the autumn of this year, which will in effect mean that ALL Staffords will have to be spayed and neutered. No importation of new stock will be allowed. Banned dogs must wear a muzzle in public. Owners must display dangerous and restricted dog notices on property. Any dog that a person thinks is threatening and is reported to the authorities will be removed without warrant and euthanized or sold to animal research. In court the owner has to prove their dog is not a pit bull for it to be returned.
The Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Canada is joining forces with the other breeds affected, the Pitbull and the Amstaff to take this to court. For further updates please look on the www.stafford website and the PRO will keep the dog press columnists up to date with progress.
At the BC meeting it was agreed that a Defence Subcommittee be set up consisting of the Chairman, Secretary, PRO and KCBLO. Its remit shall be to take whatever steps thought necessary to protect the Staffordshire Bull Terrier world-wide wherever its existence or well being is threatened. The Sub Committee will have the right to co-opt individuals with appropriate experience and expertise.
HC UPDATEDuring the last year the National Institute of Health in the US funded a huge project (that cost $30 million) to determine the sequence of the entire dog genome. That project has now finished and all the sequence is publicly available to researchers worldwide. This means the AHT has access to the sequence of all 30,000ish dog genes, whereas previously they had to determine the sequence of any gene themselves, a process that used to take many months for each gene.
A strategy, called a candidate gene approach, has only just become a reasonable option, thanks to the availability of the genomic sequence. Before the second half of last year it would have been too expensive and too time consuming. The AHT are very optimistic that this strategy will work, as long as the gene that causes HC in SBTs has been identified in the human equivalent.
The AHT is committed to finding the mutation that causes HC in the SBT.
The time and date of the corresponding meeting for 2006 was set for the 18th of March.Following a vote of thanks for Mr. Boam, the meeting closed at 2.50pm.
Veronica Brown,
Public Relations Officer.
