Brenda Fitzpatrick with the Working Animal Guardians (WAG) Rescue said the banning of any dog or breed of dog “simply does not work”.
It comes as animal welfare groups take to St Stephen’s Green in Dublin on Saturday in protest against the Government’s banning of XL Bully dogs.
Minister Heather Humphreys announced the upcoming ban during the summer, in the interest of public safety, following a number of recent attacks by XL Bully dogs.
This included the death of a young woman, Nicole Morey, who was mauled to death in Limerick.
It will be illegal to import, breed, or re-sell XL Bully dogs from October 1, with a total ban on ownership of these dogs from February 1, 2025.
From this date, owners will require a ‘Certificate of Exemption’ to keep existing XL Bully dogs.
Ms Fitzpatrick said there is empirical factual statistical evidence from the UK, Canada and the US to support the assertion that outright bans of dogs do not work.
“Once the first of October comes, these dogs cannot be rehomed, so basically they will be condemned to death,” she told Today With Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio 1.
“It is proven that dogs of any breed are less likely to attack if they are effectively socialised, trained and taken care of.
“Evidence coming out of the UK for example, in terms of hospital admissions from dog bites from the period of 1998-2018 states that the dog bite rate has tripled in the UK.”
Citing concerns for for the XL Bully breed from October, Ms Fitzpatrick said dog pounds and rescues in Ireland are already “overflowing”.
James Madden, Veterinary Officer with Leitrim County Council, also speaking on the programme, agreed that there will be no option to rehome XL Bully dogs in shelters and pounds, which means they will be destroyed.
“Demand for these type of dogs has collapsed over the last couple of months… it is becoming very difficult to rehome these dogs… people don’t want them,” he said, referencing media reports around the type of dog and cases of high-profile attacks in recent months.
Mr Madden stressed that there is a “difficulty now with rehoming them” with the upcoming restrictions from October 1.
He said owners of XL Bully’s are in a position to obtain a certificate of exemption from that date and will have four months to apply.
They will require a valid dog licence, a microchip certificate and the dog will have to neutered or there must be a commitment to have it neutered in the four months after October 1 leading up to their outright ban.
Ms Fitzpatrick said her organisation’s concern is the dogs that are dumped and will continue to be dumped and are going to be born and bred in backyards.
“What happens to those dogs? We are talking about a whole population of dogs,” she said.
Ms Fitzpatrick also stressed the misclassification of XL Bully dogs, which she described as a “hybrid dog”.
Due to not being a recognised breed in the Ireland or the UK, the XL Bully is identified through certain physical characteristics.
Mr Madden said that a ‘physical confirmation standard’ for the dogs will be published in the next few days, and is based on an already published document in the UK.
“Our dog wardens will be trained and very well trained in that identification,” Mr Madden added.
On these type of dogs being born now and up until early December, owners will still be allowed to apply for certificates of exemption.
However, owners may not be able to identify that the puppy will grow up to be an XL Bully and reach a height of 20 inches for a male, as per the standard identification, Mr Madden explained.
“It is very hard to know when a puppy is two months old that it is going to be 20 inches when fully grown, it might be 19.5 inches and fall outside the category of an XL Bully,” he said.
Mr Madden said in the event that the dog grows up not to be an XL Bully, the applicant will be in a position to claim a full refund for their application from the Local Authority.
The peaceful protest takes place from the Wolfe Tone Statue in St Stephen’s Green from 1pm to 3pm tomorrow.
“We are advocating for an ethical, balanced and effective response to this issue,” the organisers said.
In its petition, WAG is asking for “stronger enforcement” of restricted breeds law rather than a ban of XL Bully dogs.
It is also in favour of a blanket ban of the breeding of the XL Bully and wants a special registry for owners, fines and confiscation if rules are broken, drug testing of the dogs involved in serious incidents with people to check for steroids and educational campaigns around XL Bully ownership.
It is also asking for an amnesty to all XL Bully dogs in dog pounds and rescues, so that they can be rehomed past October 1 to a responsible and secure home.
“The banning of one breed leads to the hybrid breeding and continued maltreatment of another breed, as evidenced in the UK and in other jurisdictions,” the petition adds.
