Canine change confusion

By Danielle Galvin
“VAGUE” dangerous dog laws are causing confusion in the City of Casey.
The council has received a flood of calls and inquiries to assess pit bull terrier breeds since the State Government changed the legislation in September.
Calls for council workers to assess dogs in the area have reached unprecedented levels.
Casey and Hume City councils have received the highest number of calls after the change in restricted breed and menacing dog laws.
“Hume and Casey will receive $30,000 because they have experienced the greatest increase in workload,” Agriculture and Food Security Minister Peter Walsh said last week.
In August, Mr Walsh announ-ced a crackdown on dangerous dogs with a host of changes to the legislation.
“Many owners have asked councils to assess their dog against the new standards to ensure their animal does not qualify as a pit bull cross,” he said.
On Tuesday 8 November the State Government announced “extra financial assistance” to help councils deal with the volume of calls and inquiries about the new legislation.
Igor Grattan from the Australian Services Union (ASU) said council workers at the City of Casey were increasingly called out to assess dangerous dogs since the legislation changed.
He said the dangerous dog laws were “vague” and owners were unsure whether their dogs were considered dangerous.
“There is a large number of dogs and with that the workload has increased,” he said.
From September restricted breed dogs had to be registered, desexed, microchipped and kept in escape-proof enclosures with warning signs.
The announcement by the State Government earlier this year came just two weeks after a four-year-old St Albans girl was mauled to death by her neighbour’s pit bull terrier.
City of Casey’s manager of community safety Caroline Bell said the funding would help with the “additional work and administration required”.
“Under the new laws, local laws officers are required to undertake detailed inspections of new and existing animal registrations, and a complex set of standards that must be met when a restricted breed dog is located,” she said.