31/12/2024
Rather than just wish you a happy new year, I would like to finish off the year with an article I wrote on restricted breeds, ban-dogs and dog legislation.
My work on this is to purely create awareness to what I believe is going to be a "mass dog cull" in Ireland if we do not push for a unified approach to dog control accross all counties.
Speak to you in the new year!
Have animal welfare issues been thrown to the wolves…. ?
By
Samantha Dooley, Party4Animals.
Left in limbo
Following on from my article on the xl bully ban, (note 1), further lagging in government policy has caused huge community unrest and uncertainty for dog owners, dogs, the public and those that work in dog control.
Under the dog control legislation 1986 for the heading of “dangerous dog”, Article 22 makes no mention of “breed”. It is specific to a dog’s behaviour. This has been misused by many politicians and media calling restricted breeds “dangerous,” which has resulted in a community frenzy of fear mongering. The amendment to dog legislation made October 2024 still makes no mention of breed! Not even an xl bully type…….
Let that sink in……
The government has done nothing to address this clear discrimination and community isolation of those owning restricted breeds.
Perhaps what can be deemed as astonishing circumstances, Heather Humphries’ office seems to have misused this legislation to ban an entire breed – the xl bully for election votes. Noting that this implementation came months before the election. Further more, Fine Gale increased in the polls by almost 5% in September from the year prior, just before the ban came into effect. (note: 2)
Shortly after campaigners and reasonable people started to fight back illustrating there is no scientific evidence supporting a “breed” is dangerous. By November 29th Fine Gale had fallen back 5% to 20%.
If F.G had left the election to 2025 allowing for more of us to provide evidence and share it, they may well have fell below 15%.
In my opinion – Minister Humphries fell on her sword for her party to be re-elected, but had they left the election until 2025 we would have seen this sacrifice backfire.
As a result, many Irish households have been left in limbo, confusion, anger, and have started to argue over the massive failing in leadership in regards to the dog legislation.
Case example:
A dog, named Kodi was killed by Louth County Council vets. The vet followed identification characteristics published in Minister Humphries xl bully ban, which I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Those characteristics included:
General impression of vet: Large strong dog – 37 kilos.
Height: 21 inches.
Head: Fits type standard as per photos.
I have requested said photos and have had no reply. One may assume the photos in question are those published by the ISPCA, which have since been removed from their website.
The other elements of the xl bully legislation such as; teeth, neck, body, tail, coat etc – were all interpreted by a photograph. One may presume those images were supplied by the ISPCA, which have since been replaced.
In the opinion of many bull breed owners, Kodi was more likely to be a pitbull mix than an xl bully. Furthermore, Kodi did nothing wrong and under the dangerous dog legislation Kodi needed to be deemed aggressive by attacking lives stock, another pet, and human.
Was the law broken? If so, by whom?
Recently I posted a Cane Corso for rehoming and referred to it as a restricted breed. I was referring to a Ban-dog and the "type and strain of restricted breeds" noted in the statute. This post reached thousands of profiles and had huge discussion and debate. I even got bullied, threatened and blamed for misleading the public.
This led me to do more research on the ban-dog.
What is a “ban-dog”?
The ban-dog is the 11th restricted breed.
The exact wording in the Irish Statute Book for Control of Dogs act 1998 is:
(a) American Pit Bull Terrier,
(b) Bull Mastiff,
(c) Doberman Pinscher,
(d) English Bull Terrier,
(e) German Shepherd (Alsatian),
(f) Japanese Akita,
(g) Japanese Tosa,
(h) Rhodesian Ridgeback,
(i) Rottweiler,
(j) Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and
to every dog of the type commonly known as a Ban Dog (or Bandog), and to every other strain or cross of every breed or type of dog described in this article.
The ban-dog wording is causing much concern in Irish communities.
If you read it as is - it is stating after the staffy that "every dog type commonly know as a bandog".... (is it just referring to all terriers?)
But then goes onto clearly say, any strain, cross and type of dog described in the article. The article meaning the section of dog legislation which names all ten restricted breeds.
I wrote to several councils to get their take on what “strain or cross of every breed or type” meant. In terms of the definition of “strain”, it would be reasonable to conclude:
“A dog’s strain is a family line with particular, identifiable characteristics.” As this could be applied to almost any dog breed the wording is unsatisfactory if not highly controversial. In terms of “breed type” according to the Continental Kennel Club a type is:
“A breed type contains all of the characteristics that are typical or ideal for any breed of domesticated animal, including appearance, character, condition, bone structure, temperament, and movement. Breed type usually takes into account the original work the breed was bred to do.”
Lets move forward to the cane Corso – is a type of mastiff, and according to the wording it would be considered a ban-dog because of a bull mastiff having a restriction. Similarly, we could assume the American Akita is a ban-dog as it is a type of an Akita.
This year, under their new policy to kill any restricted breed or ban-dog if it is not claimed in 5 days, the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has killed what they deemed to be a cross of a Germen Shepard. The Council’s policy refuses the application of shelters to save any restricted breed or ban-dog or "strain, type or cross" of restricted breed.
A mixed consensus of opinions on breeds!
Do other local authorities and experts have clarity on Government policy, expertise and agreement on breed type?
When County Councils and the ISPCA were approached on whether a Cane Corso is a ban-dog, the following replies were given by their spokespersons:
• Waterford – Yes, a Cane Corso is a ban-dog.
• Cavan – Yes, a Cane Corso is a ban-dog.
• Galway – Yes, a Cane Corso is a ban-dog.
• Dublin Fingal – No, a Cane Corso is NOT a ban-dog.
• Dublin City – No, a Cane Corso is NOT a ban-dog.
• Louth – could not answer and referred me back to the statute. Presumably for me to make my own assessment although I am not a legal professional. Interestingly this is the same council that deemed Kodi an XL Bully
• Limerick – Gave me a case number and has not replied since!
• Sligo – In an amazing turn of events this council advised me: “Firstly no dogs are banned totally”, then went onto say cane Corso were NOT a ban dog.
• Other councils such as Athlone and Wexford have not responded past the confirmation of email receipt.
• The ISPCA said it might be and referred me to my local dog warden!
Summary
Why is it important that we investigate what different councils advise? This can be easily summed up in the response I received from Heather Humphreys’ office which is below:
“The Department or Rural and Community Development has overall policy responsibility for the Control of Dogs Acts 1986 to 2014. Local authorities have responsibility for all operational matters under the Control of Dogs Acts, including enforcement.”
Where does that leave Ireland’s communities?
There is not one unified dog legislation or policy across Ireland in terms of ban-dogs, restricted breeds and also the XL bully ban.
Certain areas will have high levels of breed types per the local authority operational matters. For example Cane Corso’s and Malinois are safe to have in Dublin without restriction but are restricted in other parts of Ireland. This will create many challenges for communities to navigate and I suspect court cases will follow.
Until this is addressed - we have been left in limbo........
Notes:
1. The xl bully ban https://deiseanimalsanctuary.ie/xl-bully-ban/
2. https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/ireland/
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