Mail send to politicians.....

Written by Theresa Kjær

Translated by Michelle Otterstrøm Jensen

Fanbookpage http://www.facebook.com/BSL.Denmark

Mail sent to the following politicians:
Mette Gjerskov
Karina Lorentzen
Dennis Flydtkjær
Michael Aastrup Jensen
Morten Bødskov

This was added to the email

I am writing you this mail, in the hopes that you will read it and take it seriously. Prior
to your successful election, you promised to look into reassessing the Law on Canines. 2
years have passed since that promise was made.

In 2010, the government passed a ban on 13 breeds of canines, as well as an obligatory
registration of puppies at 8 weeks of age. The registration part of this law is fine, but the
breed ban has now cost more than 1400 dogs their lives.

I must emphasize that the law was NOT made because of bite, but because of symbolic politics
and hysteria in the media. Studies support this fact.

Dogs that may LOOK like the ones on the banned breed list are also euthanized, not to mention
the ones caught up in the law for other reasons altogether. Bite incidents where the dog has
returned a bite in self-defense or bitten because they were startled, are problematic. The
biting dog is quite often sentenced to be euthanized, despite extenuating circumstances, and
particularly if it could be categorized into one of the more muscular breeds.

The Law on Canines urgently needs to be reassessed.

Remove the breed ban:
The 13 breeds on the list are not the ones that do the most damage, according to a study made
by Fairdog (link at the bottom of the page).
A lot of owners are left without legal certainty if the police decide that the dog is (or is a
mix of) one of the banned breeds. These dogs are euthanized without a case being tried by the
courts.
IF the owner gets the case as far as the courts, it is in most cases AFTER the dog has already
been euthanized.

I, myself, have been stopped by the police numerous times, and listened to claims that my dog
is of the Amstaff breed. Look at the attached picture and judge for yourself…which brings me
to my next point; defining a breed from a picture is nearly impossible in most cases. Breed
experts need to have the dog in front of them, to make any kind of realistic evaluation of
breed. The police do not have the expertise to evaluate breeds, which again has led to
unnecessary euthanasia of healthy dogs.

To top it all off, the burden of proving the breed is reversed, which is almost impossible for
the owners of mixed breed dogs. Again, healthy dogs are euthanized based on guesswork.

Biting:
In cases of biting, a professional canine behavioral analyst, or the like, should be
consulted. A bite is not always just a bite, and extenuating circumstances may be present,
such as self-defense or a case of being startled. If the owner of the bitten dog does not
make sure to have the wound cleaned, even the smallest breakage of skin can cause a serious
infection.

The time is now, for you to live up to your pre-election promises. Symbolic politics have
NEVER worked, and never will. Just look at the law that was passed on carrying knives…if you
can change that, then the Law on Canines shouldn’t be too hard to reassess.

So, to summarize:

1. Remove the breed ban.
2. Return legal certainty to owners.
3. The parts on biting need to be more clearly defined.
4. Experts need to be consulted to assess the dogs, not lawyers or police.

I hope that you will take this into consideration. The link to the studies:
http://dyresnak.blogspot.dk/2012/11/fakta-over-fiktion.html

Yours truly,
Maria-Theresa Kjær Larsen( info to my blogreaders: this is my full name)
Advocate for canine rights