Collateral Damage
David B Levy - Kennel Club Liaison Officer for Staffordshire Bull Terriers
Whilst not wishing to debate the pros and cons, rights and wrongs of the current war, a term that surely causes concern to anyone must be “collateral damage”. In reality it means anyone killed or injured by mistake. The phrase was perhaps originally coined to avoid the image that killing people can go wrong but in practice, it has taken on its own heavy meaning and imagery.
Collateral damage certainly does not cover situations where children are bitten by dogs. In my humble opinion these are not “mistakes” and virtually every such incident can and should be prevented.
If latchkey dogs didn’t roam streets during the day in the inner cities. If parents didn’t leave their child and especially visiting children unattended with dogs (any more than they would leave several young children together without supervision). If governments would legislate to make dog fighting and other vicious so-called “sports” truly untenable by imposing severe penalties on those caught and convicted, then the number of serious dog attacks would reduce to virtually nil.
No, my point about “collateral damage” is that it is caused by lazy journalism and careless government.
There are 3 “breeds” of dog that are frequently confused, the Pitbull terrier, the American Staffordshire Terrier and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Personally I remain convinced, and indeed all the scientific evidence from all over the world demonstrates that breed is just NOT the major factor behind serious dog attacks. However, the World’s media – and more importantly perhaps, the World’s politicians, just cannot be bothered to consider such facts.
In the UK the British Government rushed in legislation banning “the type of dog known as the Pitbull terrier”. Fortunately for SBT owners, the major canine organisations were consulted and were at least able to persuade the politicians and civil servants that the registered Staffordshire Bull Terrier breed was different.
Of course the basic law remains a very blunt instrument that has caused untold suffering to many law-abiding members of the general public. The real purpose of the Dangerous Dogs Act was recorded in Hansard during the Select Committee hearings when the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the Act had served its purpose by removing the protection of Pitbull terriers from London’s drug dealers. Does this not suggest that Government has accepted a level of “collateral damage”?
In Germany, the Government rushed in legislation following the terrible death of a boy in Hamburg. No member of the local police nor of the local government was ever censured for the fact that the dogs that killed the boy were known to the authorities, were actually already under a muzzling order and that the owner, a known dog-fighter, was blatantly ignoring the order.
How many dogs have died because of the police failure to implement the existing laws? Once again, Government reactions, fuelled by mis-information from the media, created a law that bans all the breeds with similar sounding names. Again this became the Pitbull terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Bull Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier. This, despite the fact that there was not a single recorded case of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier ever being involved in a serious biting incident in Germany. “Collateral damage”?
In France, the Government’s draftsmen even managed to get the breed names wrong. There, they introduced laws banning the Pitbull terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and “Staffordshire Terrier”. This latter does not exist but to compound the error, they then issued documents and photographs of a variety of large, bully breeds and got many of them wrong. Eventually the French Government confirmed that the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is NOT considered a dangerous dog and is NOT covered by the new laws. However, at a recent Government sponsored exhibition, the attached picture was displayed.
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As you may see, the term “Staffordshire Terrier” appears along with a photograph of an American Staffordshire Terrier. The photograph attached to the “American Staffordshire Terrier” heading is of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
Is it any wonder that people get confused when trying to say what “breed” of dog was involved in an incident? The Veterinary Association in France has now published a correction as follows:
Title : Law of 6 January 1999 - mistakes still being made
In the area devoted to dogs at the Agricultural exhibition, behind the central canine society stand, there was a poster showing the dogs listed in the decree of 27 April 1999 and covered by the measures in the law of 6 January that year. And it is worrying to note that four years after it appeared, communications about the law still include the same mistakes: mention of a non-existent breed, the Staffordshire Terrier; inclusion of a photo of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier (which is not covered by the law) appearing under the description "American Staffordshire Terrier" (the correct photo being the one at top left under the name Staffordshire Terrier). The existence of such documents which are supposed to contain accurate information but still lead to errors of interpretation is all the more reprehensible since it covers the implementation of this law.
How much “collateral damage” will be caused by these types of error? How many dogs will die and how many owners traumatised by losing their pet.
Finally we come to New Zealand. Some excuse could be made for Germany and France. They are dealing with strange foreign words and perhaps not quite understanding the difference between such closely appearing names. How easily could we English speaking nations confuse Epagneul de Pont-Audemer, Epagneul Fougeres, Epagneul Francais and Epagneul Picard? How much easier to just lump them together as “Epagneul”.
In New Zealand however, we have native English speakers yet still the newspapers are content to mix and match the names of dog breeds as the fancy takes them. Currently, the New Zealand Government is reported to have received submissions from all the major local councils which, they claim, show that “Staffordshire Bull Terriers” are the top of the biting list. Strangely, neither the American Stafford nor Pitbull feature on the list at all! Yet the one list I have seen in detail, Auckland City Council, the SBT does appear (though far from the top of the list) for being involved in incidents with other dogs but does not appear at all for incidents where humans are involved. Are we to believe that Auckland Staffordshire Bull terriers behave significantly better than those in other parts of New Zealand?
More specifically, in the 22nd March issue of the influential International Newspaper, reporter Colin Espiner describes the dog that attacked Carolina Anderson (the main figurehead for the current anti-dog campaign) as a “Staffordshire Bull Terrier”. In fact, the dog has officially been identified by the authorities as a crossbreed. The Auckland City Council authorities tell us that there was NO SBT or American Staffordshire Terrier in the cross. Is this merely a case of Mr Espiner not letting the facts get in the way of a good story?
The “collateral damage” here is obvious. Mis-reporting will lead to public outcry and politicians, fearing a backlash will strike out with the only weapon they seem to understand – a breed ban on ……“Staffordshire Bull Terriers”.
And who will be the losers? Obviously the Stafford owners will lose their pets but more importantly perhaps, the New Zealand public will settle down in the safety of knowing that no more such attacks can occur. EXCEPT THEY WILL.
People will continue, in their ignorance, to create situations where all sorts of dogs react “naturally” to their circumstances. Dog-fighters will go even further underground, safe in the knowledge that the worst that will happen to them is to lose the odd dog and pay a small fine. Life will go on as before – except for the hundreds of Staffordshire Bull Terriers – but then they are just “collateral damage”!