Keep your pit bulls

Keep your pit bulls. This was the message from a group of dog lovers who gathered at the Queen’s Park Savannah, yesterday, to show their dissatisfaction with the proclamation of the Dangerous Dogs Act. Last week, a statement from the Ministry of the Attorney General said the Act would come into effect on August 1.

Keith Johnson, spokesman for scores of dog lovers who came out dressed in white opposite Dere Street, said the Act had to be amended “to make sense” or be repealed. He said: “Nothing is cast in concrete from our perspective. “If it is that something that is in a legislation is outdated, then it has to come into the modern times.

“We will continue to lobby until such time that the Government recognises that the concerns of all dog lovers are very, very important and they need to amend and/or change the Dangerous Dogs Act.” Veterinarian Dr Azizool Rahaman of Jones Animal Clinic said the Act was flawed.

He appealed to the dog owners not to get rid of their dogs since many people may have been scared on learning about the implementation in a few months. He queried where the court will keep the dogs as exhibits. Rahaman said: “This whole thing is a joke. Keep your pit bulls.” He said the Government had to educate the people first before introducing the law.

“They are trying to use first world methods to deal with a third world problem and it is not going to work,” Rahaman said. Last week’s statement said: “The Government is of the view that the proclamation of the Act is critical because of the great harm and injury being caused daily to law-abiding citizens when these dogs are not properly secured and controlled.”

Two weeks ago Sookdeo Baney, a cameraman at State-owned television station CNMG received eight stitches to his face and forehead after he was attacked by a dog while seeking directions to the home of two-year-old Aliyah Johnson at Maria David Trace, San Francique.

In May last year, security guard Denise Rackal, 46, was mauled to death by seven dogs. In April last year, four-year-old Ezekiel Renne-Cambridge was attacked by two hybrid dogs — a German shepherd and an Akita mixed with German shepherd near his Palmiste home.