Miranda Devine?s piece on Deeon Higgins ? the two year old who was tragically killed by a relative?s dog in NSW on Sunday ? throws out some pretty horrifying ?solutions? to dog management in Australia;
Pit bull is a term generally used for the American pit bull terrier, American Staffordshire terrier and Staffordshire bull terrier. Along with similar breeds, they pose a clear and present danger to humans.
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Pit bull-type dogs are inherently dangerous.
The horrible death this week of two-year old Deeon Higgins in Deniliquin has to mark the end of the line for dangerous dog breeds as household ?pets?.
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It?s time for a ?dog buyback?, similar to John Howard?s gun buyback. There can be an amnesty of a few weeks before the owner of every pit bull, or similar vicious breed, is required to relinquish their dogs to the local council.
Now, lets give Miranda her dues. Sure, she?s not a dog trainer, or behaviorist. She may be a dog owner. She?s an opinion journalist and as such, is entitled to an opinion. But as a journalist, she should also be aware of the facts around what she is proposing.
According to Australian Geographic, and based on national dog registration figures for 2012, the most popular dog breed in our nation is the Staffordshire Terrier (the ?staffy?).
The American Staffordshire Terrier comes in at number seven, while the Rottweiler comes in at number ten.
Australia?s most popular dog breeds (Australian Geographic)
#1 ? Staffordshire Bull Terrier
#2 ? Labrador Retriever
#3 ? German Shepherd
#4 ? King Charles Cavalier
#5 ? Golden Retriever
#6 ? Border Collie
#7 ? American Staffordshire Terrier
#8 ? Poodle (miniature & standard combined)
#9 ? Pug
#10 ? Rottweiler
Also featuring heavily in this mix of popular breeds, but not being able to necessarily be identified, would also be the general ?mutt? ? some lending towards a more staffy appearance, some more ?working? breeds, shepherds, or labradors.
As part of their campaign against ?dangerous? dog breeds, Miranda?s employer The Daily Telegraph produced a graph of the most prolific ?attacking? breeds in NSW.
If we pull the ?bully? type dogs from this list, as is Miranda?s wish, we see?
Staffordshire Bull Terrier ? 74,567 registered (650 attacks)
Staffordshire Bull Terrier X ? 26,783 registered (362 attacks)
American Staffordshire Terrier ? 16,503 registered (252 attacks)
Rottweiler ? 27,560 registered (207 attacks)
Bullmastiff ? 9,521 registered (145 attacks)
Mastiff ? 9,726 registered (140 attacks)
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?Bully? style dogs ? 164,660 registered (1,756 attacks)
Meaning just 1% of these so called ?dangerous? breeds are involved in an ?attack? in a year. An ?attack? in NSW according to the New South Wales Division of Local Government, Department of Premier and Cabinet includes any dog who? rushes at, attacks, bites, harasses or chases any person or animal? whether or not any injury is caused to the person or animal.
Maybe killing 100 dogs, to save one dog rushing someone is worth it in Miranda?s mind. Opinion is opinion, okay. But let?s not stop there. Let?s see where this thinking really takes us.
According to The Australian Companion Animal Council?s 2010 Report ?Contribution of the Pet Care Industry to the Australian Economy?, there are 1.1 million registered dogs in NSW.
- 165,000 ish are the dog breeds listed above.
- Conservatively, 50,000 at least would be blends of the above.
- And lets add 50,000 dogs who are the ?lesser? known bully breeds (ie. stocky dogs with short coats and a big head ? Boxers, American Bulldogs, Australian Bulldogs, Bull Terriers, English Bulldogs, Bull Arab and of course ?dogs who look like American Pit Bulls?)
Giving us the need to, in NSW alone, cull ? 265,000 dogs. Or another way ? about 25% of the overall dog population.
The same Australian Companion Animal Council study stated that nationally, there are 3.4 million dogs living in our homes. Killing one in four dogs under Miranda?s ?dog buyback scheme? means a total of ? are you ready Miranda? ? 850,000 healthy, friendly ? but dead ? dogs.
And for what end? Remember those stats on ?attacks? above; this will in actuality only potentially stop 1% of those dogs ever doing something deemed to be an attack- including rushing or chasing without causing injury.
While according to Linda Watson of Murdoch University?
Until the recent tragic death of Ayen Chol, no dog bite related deaths in Victoria have been attributed to a dog identified as a pit bull or pit bull cross.
My ongoing research has found that since 1979, there have been over 33 dog bite related deaths in Australia, 11 of these in Victoria. Only one other dog involved in a death in Australia has previously been described as a pit bull cross dog.
? indicating that despite potentially culling nearly a million dogs, we likely won?t prevent a human death at all.
Of course this is all waxing idiotic. There is no situation whereby our pet loving community would allow one in every four dogs to be killed just for how they look. However, there is a great potential for great harm to be caused to our dog laws on the back of such media hype.
Widespread culling ? and the media outlets who salivate over it ? may get eyeballs and outrage, but they don?t save the lives of children. In fact, they contribute to harm us all. Continuing to look at ?breed? as the cause of dog bite incidents directs our scarce animal management dollars into programs and services which fail to make the community safer. Seizing healthy, friendly dogs at great cost, while programs which educate caregivers of children, and the tools dog owners need for raising healthy, happy dogs, fall by the wayside.
Everyone wants to see truly dangerous dogs kept from harming anyone the community. But unsurprisingly, killing hundreds, thousands or even a million healthy, friendly dogs doesn?t make that desire a reality.
See also: Analysing a failure of safe dog ownership: Dog attack fatality NSW
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