A few updates from ZH, VS and GE:
Kanton ZH has made public a new dog control law:
Tages-Anzeiger Online | Zürich | Hundehalter in der Pflicht 108 Hundegesetz - Staatskanzlei - Internet Kanton Zürich http://www.sk.zh.ch/internet/sk/de/m...4.Document.pdf
Briefly summarized,
In Kanton ZH, dog owners, regardless of breed or size, will be required to hold liability insurance coverage of at least 1 million. License fees will rise, most likely from CHF 150 to CHF 200.
Dogs will be categorized by weight and size, and restrictions or conditions for ownership applied:
List 1, Large and potentially dangerous dogs :
(From the TA article) Large dogs such as Rottweilers, Dobermann, German Shepherds, Sennenhunde, large sighthounds (Greyhounds), St. Bernards and Labradors. 30,000 dogs, about half the dogs in the canton, will be included in this list. Owners will be required to complete a recognized training course to receive a permit to keep their dogs.
* Note that they have not specified exactly what the size/weight cut off will be. The
Regierungsrat will make that decision.
List 2, the so-called
'Kampfhunde':
American Pitbull, American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and Bull Terrier. Owners must take training classes and pass a test, the dogs will also be tested. (
Wesenstest?) A permit conditional on passing the tests will be required for ownership. Other breeds may be added to this list in the future. Lead and muzzling restrictions will continue to be enforced.
The new law is expected to take force by May 2008 at the latest.
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The Swiss Federal Court has upheld Valais' ban on 12 dog breeds, paving the way for other cantons to adopt similar measures:
Court confirms ban on dangerous dogs*(eng, NZZ Online)
(In English )
Valais authorities have banned pitbulls, American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, bull terriers, dobermanns, Argentine mastiffs, Brazilian mastiffs, rottweilers, mastiffs, Spanish mastiffs, Neapolitan mastiffs and tosas.
Crosses of any of these breeds are forbidden as well.
Here is what has happened in Valais since the legislation went into effect:
Information pour les médias
373 dogs of the listed breeds and their crosses were registered in the Canton - Owners are required to submit their dogs to be Wesenstested by a date set by the cantonal authorities; dogs whose owners who do not comply by that date will be euthanized.
From 1 Jan 2006 through 30 Sept 2006 Valais tested 225 dogs from the 12 listed breeds.
27 dogs did not pass the tests and were euthanized.
163 passed the test and their owners were granted a permit to keep the dog, with the restriction that the dog must sterilized and that outside of the owner's private property the dog must be kept on lead and muzzled.
54 of the dogs did not pass, but were deemed correctable - the owner and dog were required to attend 20 training classes with an SKG club in the next 12 months, and would be tested again at that time. A decision as to whether these owners would receive a permit, or the dogs euthanized, will be made then.
8 dogs were deemed by the testing veterinarian to be dangerous - the dog and owner combination was deemed to pose a risk to the public. These dogs and owners were required to attend individual training course or be further tested before a definitive decision could be made. 2 of these dogs were euthanized at the decision of the owners.
What this list doesn't include are the puppies born after 1 January. The law forbids the breeding, import, sale or ownership of any of the 12 breeds; puppies born as of December 05 received a special permit and will be tested at the proper age. Any puppies younger than 5 months old as of 1 June 2006 were PTS, as will be any puppies of those breeds born in the future; how many of those, if any, is not known.
---- And, a little bit of sort of good news*:
Tribune de Genève - Résultat de votre recherche - Tribunal fédéral - Genève: les chiens dangereux continueront à porter la muselière
Geneva has relaxed the requirement that all dogs of all sizes and breeds be muzzled in parks; courts have ruled the regulation arbitrary. Dogs must still be on lead in parks and near school grounds. The listed breeds (Amstaff, Boerbull, Cane Corso, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasilerio, Mastiff, Spanish Mastiff, Neopolitan, Presa Canero, Rottweiler, Tosa Inu, Pitbull, and their crosses) must still be muzzled and on lead at all times in public.
* Good-ish news in that it recognizes that blanket restrictions do nothing at all to promote safety - still bad news in that it re-inforces BSL.
"Punish the deed, not the breed." (Or the size, for that matter.)
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