The only way one can truly understand the gravity of what is now facing pit bulls in this country is to imagine being one who is dumped to face all manner of life threatening risks. Pit bulls have now become the genocide breed.This Dog Bill has been a nightmare for pits and welfare organisations like Animals Alive. We have been beleaguered by owners, the police, members of the public to rescue pit bulls from all over the country.
The thing is, we run a no-kill facility with a population limit and when after a point when we can take in no more dogs, we are being made to stand by and watch these animals being destroyed.How unfair, unjust and inhumane! The Dog Bill did cause poor owners to discard their dogs but what about the dogs?No domestic animal should have to face this torturous nightmare. Saying that owners should not dump their dogs but take them to the pounds made no sense because everyone knows that inevitably, dogs at pounds are euthanised within a day or two so owners prefer to let them loose in hope that they may survive another way.
No law should have been passed unless it could have guaranteed that owners who could no longer afford to keep their dogs could give them up to a registered shelter and registered shelters would be given incentives to take in as many as possible.These travesties occur when lawmakers do not consider civil society as one where animals matter in a symbiotic relationship with humans.When will we evolve and when will we lift our thinking and actions so that we hurt no creature, human or animal? This law has precipitated lawlessness, injustice and death to a breed.
Kathryn Cleghorn
President
Animals Alive