Page 523 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 2019
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issue. This is because placing the responsibility on to dogs does not prevent attacks, as any dog can bite if not properly managed by the people around it.
Despite the clear examples from other jurisdictions around the world demonstrating the effectiveness of community education and responsible pet ownership in reducing dog attacks, the opposition continually suggest taking a different approach, an approach which would not only affect the capacity of domestic animal services, or DAS, to provide essential services to the community that we rely on every day but which would have no impact on reducing dog attacks in Canberra.
The opposition’s bill proposes a requirement for dogs that have undergone a single training course to be registered at zero cost, which is contrary to best practice and expert advice on how to best manage dogs. The independent expert review into dog management in the ACT released last year suggested encouraging dog owners to register their pets, but nowhere did it suggest zero cost registration in any way, especially considering that the ACT currently uses a lifetime registration system with a one-off fee.
When addressing the issue of dangerous dogs it is very important to keep in mind the essential role that DAS and their rangers play in preventing and reducing dog attacks in Canberra. Undermining the efforts of our rangers in carrying out their duties and providing essential education and awareness services to the community will not achieve lasting results for the people of Canberra and will not reduce dog attacks.
The review was clear that registration fees are important to assist in funding services to the community and to dog owners. While I agree that training and socialisation of dogs is very important—and this is recognised in the review—legislative change to undermine the registration system is not the best way to achieve this. Incentivisation combined with education and working directly with our community is a far better way to encourage proper training and management of dogs.
The proposed requirement for dogs that have undergone a single training course to be registered at zero cost suggests that an owner should pay nothing for the services the ACT government provides for the life of the dog and instead that it be borne by the broader community. It also wrongly assumes that any dog that completes a single training course will be less likely to be involved in a dog attack. This is where the proposed amendment really gets it wrong, as educating the community and dog owners on an ongoing basis about responsible dog ownership is the key to reducing dog attacks in the long term, not undertaking a single course.
Anyone who has been unfortunate enough to witness the seriousness of a dog attack will know that obedience training is not a silver bullet solution. Almost every single attack that takes places in Canberra has the mistake or omission of a human behind it, be that a person letting a dog out without a leash or not properly socialising the dog throughout its life. Dog ownership is an ongoing responsibility not solved with a one-off course.
A US study into 109 fatal dog attacks revealed that a simplistic dog-orientated approach to preventing dog attacks, such as breed-specific legislation or obedience
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