Camden urged to be first council to ban Bully XL dogs from its estates
Housing chief says he doesn't know what the legal position is
Friday, 1st March
Awale Olad says the dogs are intimidating and strike fear in people who see them unmuzzled
CAMDEN is being urged to become the first local authority in the country to bring in a complete ban on tenants and leaseholders on its estates from owning American Bully XL dogs.
Labour councillor Awale Olad appealed to cabinet colleagues to introduce the rule, telling a committee last week that there had been a “proliferation” of the dogs and that the government nationally was only taking the issue seriously “after the Daily Mail complained about it”.
He has support from other Labour councillors concerned about safety.
“I don’t think we have looked at this issue seriously enough, we haven’t identified any of the owners and dogs that they own,” Cllr Olad told the cross-party housing scrutiny committee on Thursday night
“I don’t think any of them [owners] are following the protocols and regulations that the government has brought in. One lives in my neighbourhood, and I’ve never seen it muzzled outside its property. It’s such a menacing thing to see walking down the street that it strikes fear into everyone ”
After a series of incidents where people have either been injured or even killed in dog attacks, the government changed the rules last year, making it illegal to sell, give away or breed the dogs and, since the start of the month, it has been illegal to own one without an exemption and a microchip.
More than 60,000 applications for these exemptions were received, and come with a requirement to ensure the dogs are neutered and muzzled at all times when out of their homes. Anybody who did not apply would be told they needed to have their pets euthanised. Camden has no figures on how many are living in the borough.
Cllr Olad said: “I’m essentially beseeching the cabinet member to bring in a blanket ban on XL bully dogs in council properties across the borough. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen a proliferation of these dogs predominantly owned by, l’m sorry to say, drug dealers who operate from some of our estates.
“They are bred to fight bulls and they have the ability to kill three fully grown men in one instance. They are nationally responsible for about 44 per cent of dog-related fatalities. That’s almost half. “That’s quite a serious statistic and the government had to – after the Daily Mail complained about it – put it into the Dangerous Dogs Act.”
Kilburn councillor Eddie Hanson said he supported the call, telling the committee that he worried about children and vulnerable people and adding: “You don’t know what will happen.”
Somers Town councillor Samata Khatoon said that while Camden had stiffened the rules on dog fouling with fines, the ownership of dangerous dogs needed to be looked at. “As a local authority, we should have all the data of all the dog owners so we can at least identify the dogs,” she said.
The comments were made to housing chief Labour councillor Meric Apak, who did not say whether he personally supported the idea of a ban on the borough’s estates but said he had asked for “advice and guidance”.
He said: “I’m not a legal expert. I know there are conversations going on and I’m waiting for the outcome. At the moment I’m getting bits of information which in some cases is conflicting and I want clarity on the matter.”
Nationally, more than half a million people signed a petition urging the government not to ban the dogs. It said that bad owners and not the “kind, beautiful” dogs that were to blame for violent incidents.