Rules regarding pitbulls promulgated by the Council of Agriculture do not prevent animal attacks and are prompting owners to abandon the supposedly dangerous dogs, animal rights groups and lawmakers said yesterday.
An amendment to the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) that was implemented last year listed American pit bull terriers and American Staffordshire terriers as “breed(s) of animals whose ownership, exportation and importation have been banned by the central competent authority.”
Owners and importers who acquired such animals before March 1 must register them before Feb. 28 next year, the council said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Government-registered breeders would be allowed to continue to breed the dogs, as long as all puppies — which cannot be used for further breeding — are registered, it said.
The council introduced the regulations after a series of attacks by pitbull terriers, including one in which a three-year-old boy died after being attacked by a dog owned by his neighbors in Pingtung County in December last year.
A coalition of groups including the Taiwan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Taiwan Dog Lovers’ Association told a news conference in Taipei yesterday that the “ill-conceived ban” has triggered a surge of abandonments that have overwhelmed Taiwan’s shelters.
While the government intended that pitbull owners and breeders be covered by grandfathered rules, the shoddy implementation has resulted in animal shelters acquiring 106 pitbulls with no prospect of them being adopted, the groups said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that foreign studies suggest that abuse is to blame for dog attacks.
Blanket bans of specific breeds is not a solution, Chiang said.
“The government should educate the public about proper dog ownership and hold dog owners responsible” for infractions, he said.
New Power Party Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said the cause of dog attacks is usually misconduct by the owner.
Pitbulls continue to be bred commercially following the ban, so the measure could not be said to have protected the public, Chen said.
Public education targeting dog owners, neutering bull terriers and regulating breeders would be more effective ways to address the safety concerns surrounding pitbulls, she said.
Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal Protection Director Cheng Chu-ching (鄭祝菁) said that the council instituted the ban because maulings by pitbulls almost always result in serious injury or death.
“The restriction on pitbull ownership is to guard the public against a serious threat to safety,” Cheng said.
“Taiwan is far from the only country to implement such rules, with similar measures in place in Germany and Singapore,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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