This time
on 11 yr.. old Emma Vann in Alderly, a Brisbane suburb. It appears
that Emma was collecting for charity when a dog jumped the
front fence and attacked her for no apparent reason.
Our hearts
go out to little Emma, as indeed it does to all victims
of dog attack. But heartfelt
condolences does nothing to prevent a repeat of this kind
of horror. Sensible
control of all dogs through their owners is the ONLY way
to prevent a re-occurrence of attacks like this. Why????
oh why??? are our leaders insisting on trying to prevent
these attacks by a method that has been shown for over
10 yr. to be totally inadequate for the job? Namely, The
banning of various breeds of dogs.
A councillor
from another Queensland city when asked why his council
chose to ban certain breeds of dogs rather than truly
solve the problem by attacking the cause recently answered: "it (Blaming
the owner) doesn't cut any slack with the mother of a
mauled child, the relatives of a mauled grandmother or
the owners of a mauled cat or dog." Really?
Perhaps Emma's mother may have a different opinion. Emma was
not attacked by any of the breeds currently being banned
in different parts of the country Or was she? Nick Etcheells,
reporter for Channel 10 in Queensland stated that Emma
was attacked by a Rhodesian
Ridgeback crossed with a Bull
Terrier. No pitbull
there!
Reporter
Michael Cooms of channel 7 later confirmed this description
and added the dogs name...Dozer! Still no
Pitbull!
Now, one
must ask. How is the banning of the American Pit Bull
Terrier going to have any hope of preventing the attack
on Emma when this breed was nowhere in sight? The answer
is obvious isn't it?
Let's call
Dozer a pitbull.
Sure enough,
from Channel 9 news that very night comes the story by
Melissa Downs.
"While
raising money for charity An 11 year old girl has been
Mauled by a Pit Bull Terrier, The little girls face was
badly injured in the terrifying attack which happened
last night on Brisbane's North Side, the dog will be put
down"
There we
have it. Problem solved. It was a pitbull what dunnit.
Ban em!
Let's now
get into the real cause of why Emma was attacked. The
story the media doesn't see fit to print.
There are
a minimum of two separate things that have gone wrong
here so that this attack could take place.
1.
This attack took place when the dog jumped the low
suburban front fence of it owners house. Obviously
the dog was unsupervised.
One of
the basic requirements in law regarding dog ownership,
and a significant plank of the EDBA's Owner Specific Legislation
is that ALL members of the public must have clear and
safe passage not only past the property, but even onto
the property as far as the front door. This is the law
in 90% of councils around Australia. It is NOT satisfactory
to think,
"Oh,
old Dozer would never hurt anyone !"
The law
is the law and if you yourself wish to be able to walk
the streets near your home, secure in the knowledge that
NO dog is going to rush out at you, you MUST be prepared
to allow the same privilege to others.
Unsupervised
dogs, of ALL breeds, MUST be confined to the back yard
of the home. No Exceptions!
In the
case of Dozer, a neighbour has stated that other neighbourhood
children had been teasing the dog earlier. This may account
for Dozer's reaction to Emma, but none the less, If Dozer
had been confined to the back yard where he should have
been.
The
neighbourhood kids couldn't have teased him. Emma
wouldn't have tried to pat him. Emma
would not now be scarred And
Dozer wouldn't be dead.
More significantly,
It was reported in Friday's Courier-Mail: "....and
a man living at the home where the attack occurred admitted
the dog had been showing signs of aggression.....The man
who spoke of the dog's earlier behaviour said he had been
forced to erect barriers near the property's letterbox."
Warning
signs has been seen, but ignored. Why was dozer alone
in the front yard?
2.
It has been reported that Emma reached
over the low front fence of the house to
pat Dozer. Evidently, in the past, Dozer has allowed
this.
The point
here is that NO child should ever try to pat a strange
dog with no adult supervision. No exceptions. There are
a variety of sources of information and basic training
for the interaction between children and dogs. Educating
children is vital to reducing these types of attacks. 80% of attacks
by dogs on children occur IN THE BACK YARD with the family
dog. No amount of law making is going to help here. The
ONLY answer is to reach the children, before the dogs
do.
The
Verdict
Emma's
mother, Peta has apparently forgiven Dozer's owners.
she says
"but I know they did not set the dog on my girl, or
any thing like that it was not malicious it was just a
horrible accident"
In the
circumstances, that is a noble thing to say, but unfortunately,
unjustified. Responsible
dog ownership requires Dozer's owners to have restrained
him to the back yard, AND that signs of aggression are
dealy with responsibly.
We find
Dozer's owners.....GUILTY
This council
has banned the American Pit Bull Terrier and stated that
by banning this breed, attacks such as the one on Emma will
stop. As dozer is quite clearly NOT an APBT, this thinking
is seriously flawed to the point of Negligence. Their thinking
is now to further the bans to cover all Pit Bull TYPE of
dogs. As Dozer clearly has NO similar breeding to a APBT,
again this thinking is seriously flawed to the point of
Negligence.
We find
the City Of Brisbane....GUILTY
It is every
parents responsibility to ensure their children know the
basics of how to approach any dog. Help is available through
Canine Associations and their schools. There is no excuse
today for a child not to know how to behave. As parents
we teach our children road sense, safety around a pool and
to wear a helmet when riding their bike. Teaching our children
not to approach any dog unsupervised falls into the same
category.
We find
Emma's parents....GUILTY...and
suspend sentence as they have been punished enough.
Lastly
No American
Pit Bull Terrier was anywhere to be seen in this incident.
We find
the American Pit Bull Terrier...INNOCENT
and...Dozer. It
would appear that other children had done their best to
teach you to fear any small person. Your owners left you
to fend for yourself in the front yard.
We
find Dozer.....INNOCENT
although it comes too late. Dozer has already paid the
ultimate price for this event...He's dead!
To both
Emma and Dozer
The Endangered
Dog Breeds Association will not forget you. We
WILL persevere.
