BRISBANE ANTI-BSL RALLY
BRISBANE ANTI-BSL RALLY
At 10.30am on Saturday 19th July Kat’s Kritters Pet Sitting and Dog Walking will join other dog lovers on a march through Brisbane to show our support against Breed Specific Legislation (BSL).
BSL is a government prohibition on certain breeds of dogs because of their apparent dangerous nature. The objective of BSL is to reduce dog attacks on people, yet this solution does little to help the situation.
Some dogs are more territorial than others, some have a stronger prey drive, but all dogs are inherently good and friendly to humans.
Aggressive behavior is taught to them by humans, through improper socialization, improper pack leadership and through rewarding improper behavior whether consciously or not.
BSL as a solution to stop dog attacks is like banning cars in an effort to reduce the road toll. It’s not identifying the problem and therefore as a solution it will never work.
A great example of this is in The Netherlands where American Pit Bulls (1993) and Rottweilers (2000) were banned, yet these bans were overturned in 2008 after no reduction in dog attacks.
In the UK, pit bulls and similar cross breeds were banned in 1997, yet in the decade after (1997-2007) the rate of dog attacks actually increased by 50 per cent.
Where BSL becomes even worse is when dogs that aren’t a restricted breed are punished because the look similar.
There have been countless cases of dogs on death row because they are apparently pit bulls according to council workers and other uneducated people in the decision making process, yet really they are a staffy or other mix breed and haven’t done anything wrong.
Lately justice seems to prevail thanks to the power of social media, for instance the ‘Save Zeus’ campaign http://tinyurl.com/ospfka8 saw a pit bull on death row, who was rescued after his owners successfully argued that he was a staffy x Labrador mix. It cost a lot of time and money in court but Zeus was given his freedom.
Personally, what frustrates me the most is that animals are unfairly punished by the law-makers because it’s easier than it is to punish or police the ignorant humans who are irresponsible pet owners. People who encourage aggressive behavior, fail to learn pack leadership behavior, fail to keep their dog under control and fail to keep their dogs in a secure and safe environment.
If you’re passionate about animal rights and have time to come and show your support, meet us at King George Square at 10.30am on Saturday 19th July, 2014.
Contact us if you’d like to meet at a certain spot. Either via katskritterspetsitting@gmail.com or on 0411 284 474.