The number of animals that would need to be removed from a community to have a meaningful impact on ... FINAL.pdf. 4. An
THE SOLUTION FOR A SAFER COMMUNITY
Team Dog www.teamdog.com.au
[email protected]
THE SUMMARY Team Dog recognises the growing concern of community safety in regards to dangerous dogs, as well as the emphasis by the media on specific breeds and the alleged risks they pose to the community as a whole. For a long time now legislation that regulates certain breeds has been implemented in an attempt to reduce the frequency of dog bites. Time and time again this has failed and, in some cases, has worsened the percentage of attacks. For instance, Britain has banned four types of dogs for the last twenty years and their hospitalisations from dog attacks have increased by 50%. All across the world breed bans are being repealed at an astounding rate due to the failure of reducing dog attacks. Sixteen states in the USA have actually made it illegal for any county or city within their jurisdiction to implement legislation that targets specific breeds because they have identified that to keep a community safe, the emphasis should be on each individual dog, rather than breed.
1 of 4
The Solution For A Safer Community © Team Dog 2013
THE PROBLEM Communities have long been concerned with the danger of dog attacks and fatalities by dogs, and the best approach to reduce the incidence of these tragic events. Most States in Australia, and some areas around the world have attempted to reduce the already very low incidence of dog attacks in the community through restricting or banning ownership of certain breeds or ‘types’ of dogs. Unfortunately, this approach has failed to achieve any positive results in every place that it has been trialled, leading to the repeal of such legislation in an extensive amount of areas around the world. Breed specific Legislation fails to achieve a reduction in dog attacks due to many interacting factors: • Breed Specific Legislation is both over and under inclusive: it fails to capture all dangerous dog owners, while unnecessarily persecuting responsible family pet owners. • Breed Specific Legislation requires that municipalities identify a dog’s breed, in order to determine restrictions. This process has proven to be highly problematic. Different observers, irrespective of their professional experience with dogs, very often do not agree with each other on what breeds comprise an individual dog’s DNA. • Laws that deem dogs dangerous based on breed or appearances, rather than behaviour, fail to protect citizens from truly dangerous dogs. Scarce resources are diverted to target dogs based only on appearances, not behaviour. • Breed on its own is not an effective indicator or predictor of behaviour. • It is not possible to precisely determine the breed or types of dogs targeted by Breed Specific Legislation by appearance or by DNA analysis. • The number of animals that would need to be removed from a community to have a meaningful impact on hospital admissions is so high that the removal of any one breed would have a negligible impact. • Breed Specific Legislation ignores the human element whereby dog owners who desire this kind of dog will simply substitute another breed of dog of similar size, strength and perception of aggressive tendencies. If Breed Specific Legislation is a part of the problem then what is the solution? Team Dog advocates a legislative approach that focuses entirely on the assessment of individual dogs and incidents, the promotion of education in regards to responsible pet ownership, and licensing. For this we turn to the Calgary Model.
2 of 4
The Solution For A Safer Community © Team Dog 2013
THE SOLUTION Dog attacks come about through a series of interacting factors, mostly environmental, and for this reason breed alone is not an accurate predictor of aggression. By focusing on responsible pet ownership of all breeds, the City of Calgary more than halved their dog bites. In that time, the population doubled, so on a pro-rata basis they quartered dog bites. When Calgary realised Breed Specific Legislation was not effective, the city turned to experts and found the best way to reduce dog attacks in a community is through education. Calgary enacted its Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw in 2006, which puts emphasis on behaviour, rather than breed. By choosing to educate and enforce, Calgary has seen massive success in reducing dog attacks in the community. Pet owners are supported through safety public awareness and education campaigns, including resources for desexing, training, socialisation, proper diet, how to ethically procure a pet, and how to be a responsible pet owner. Calgary has a strict enforcement policy and punishes owners who fail to adhere to the legislation, which gives them every opportunity to succeed as a responsible pet owner. In Calgary, 90% of dogs are licensed, allowing bylaw officers to keep track of pets and owners. It also allows the officers to declare specific dogs as “dangerous” and this label brings with it higher license fees, muzzling rules and age restrictions on the dog’s handlers. The bylaw states that a dog can only be destroyed by owner request or court order. The results from 2011 speak for themselves: • Funded entirely by animal-related revenues, primarily licensing. It receives no tax revenue. • Over 111,000 dogs licensed, out of a total estimated canine population of 122,325. • 90% (estimated) licensure compliance rate for dogs. • 4,576 dogs impounded and a 95% live release rate: • 87% returned to their owners; • 8% adopted to new owners; • 5% euthanized. • Only 123 reported dog bites. The findings from Calgary shows that when a community is given support, education, and resources to be a responsible pet owner, and enforces against the minority that refuse to comply, citizens can enjoy the companionship of their dogs, regardless of breed or type. If the problem is dangerous dogs, dog bites, and the safety of communities, then the solution should be a science driven animal control model that has been proven to work, all the while preserving the human-canine bond. 3 of 4
The Solution For A Safer Community © Team Dog 2013
FURTHER READING 1. City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Link: http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/ABS/Pages/home. aspx 2. The National Canine Research Council. Link: http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil. com/uploaded_files/tinymce/Community%20Model%20for%20RPO_Calgary.pdf 3. The Australian Veterinary Association Ltd. Link: http://www.ava.com.au/sites/default/ files/AVA_website/pdfs/Dangerous%20dogs%20-%20a%20sensible%20solution%20 FINAL.pdf 4. Animal Farm Foundation Inc. Link: http://www.animalfarmfoundation.org/pages/BreedSpecific-Legislation 5. ASPCA. Link: http://www.aspca.org/about-us/aspca-policy-and-position-statements/ position-statement-on-breed-specific-legislation
4 of 4
The Solution For A Safer Community © Team Dog 2013
