Danger dogs to be tracked

By Rebecca Fraser
CASEY’S dangerous and aggressive canines will now be tracked following the announcement of new State Government regulations.
Agricultural Minister Bob Cameron announced the new state-wide register to track dangerous and restricted-breed dogs on Monday, saying the new initiative would begin next month.
The register follows on from a recent spate of dog attacks in Victoria and will stop owners and their dangerous dogs from dropping off local council databases when moving from one municipality to another.
Residents have now been urged to ensure they report unregistered dogs, undeclared pit bull terriers, as well as dogs that attacked or showed menacing behaviour to people and other animals to their local council.
“Until now Victoria has had a hotchpotch of lists and databases operated by individual councils, with no tracking system for dangerous dogs moving from one council to another,” Mr Cameron said.
“Now we have a standardised scanning and identification system and a central government-funded data base for councils to use to track the movement of dangerous dogs.
“This is important to ensure that owners don’t attempt to dodge the tight restrictions placed on the ownership and housing of dangerous dogs by moving house.
“It will ensure that the declaration of a dog by a council as ‘dangerous’, ‘menacing’ or ‘restricted breed’ can be applied state-wide, instead of only in that municipality.”
Mr Cameron said Victoria still needed to tackle the issue of the large number of dog owners that did not register their dogs.
“There are still unregistered restricted-breed dogs in Victoria. These include breeds such as American pit bull terriers.”
The most recent figures show that in the 12 months to May 2005 there were 50 dog attacks attributed by councils to American pit bull terriers.
Of these only two were registered and declared as such, and it is estimated that 70 per cent of all dogs in Victoria are unregistered.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford has welcomed the new initiative.
“I think it is a tremendous idea and, given the high number of dogs in the area, I think this initiative is very apt and purely commonsense,” he said.
But Cr Bradford said his only concern was that the initiative might lead to an additional cost to dog owners.
Under changes introduced by the Bracks Government last year, owners of restricted breeds are required to de-sex their dogs, as will owners of dogs declared dangerous by a local council.
Councils can declare any dog as ‘dangerous’ if they are involved in an attack on a person or animal, or ‘menacing’ if they have rushed a person aggressively.
Significant restrictions apply to the keeping of dangerous dogs.