Fighting BSL
Breed Specific Legislation is the unfair banning and restricting of particular breeds of dogs based on appearance, rather than on behaviour. In NSW at present, there are five breeds of dogs specified under legislation that can only be kept under the most cruel and severe conditions. Only one of those breeds exists in Australia in any significant number - The American Pit Bull Terrier (or "pitbull" for short). Unfortunately, there is constant pressure on the government to extend this list of restricted breeds to include Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers, Bull Mastiffs, and a number of other breeds.
There is absolutely no justification for making such laws when there is ample evidence to prove that it is not the breed of a dog that makes it dangerous. It is most definitely a combination of factors, with the most important being how the dog has been raised.
Thousands of dogs have been killed in Australia and many thousands more around the world, because politicians have created such laws in ignorance of the facts, or worse, in full knowledge of the facts, but with a purely political motivation. Families have been devastated by having their beloved and harmless family pets ripped from their arms and cruelly killed.
BSL has been attempted in many countries around the world. At no time has it proven successful in reducing the number or severity of dog attacks. In fact, in a number of places where BSL has been implemented, it has now been challenged, proved to be ineffective and abolished.
Sadly, there does not seem to be any indication that this will happen anytime soon in Australia.
We have tried peaceful protests, we have tried extensive letter writing campaigns, we have tried to inform the public of the realities of BSL. None of these approaches have worked. We now want to try to challenge the laws in court. Unfortunately, this is going to take a prohibitive amount of money, or a solid team of legal professionals who are willing to work pro-bono. We live in hope ...
If you would like to register your support in our fight against BSL, please send us an
email. When the time comes that we need your support in this fight, we will be in touch!
Please have a look at some of these links.
D-boys heroic story
BSL failing globally - Italy lifts breed ban
(Make sure that you watch the video at the end. It is beautiful).
The Pit Bull Placebo - Long, but well worth the read