St Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. The 22 XL bully-type dogs that left Ashbourne in Co Meath on Thursday were driven out of Ireland in air-conditioned vans.
Their final destination is Sweden, a journey of two days across land and sea. As of next Tuesday, October 1st, it will be against the law to import, breed, sell or rehome an XL bully dog.
Therefore those in dog shelters or pounds will be put down. Those retained by owners will need a certificate of exemption from next February and will have to be neutered and microchipped.
The Coalition banned XL bully-type dogs (they are not a breed) after several recent high-profile attacks. In June, Nicole Morey (23), from Limerick city, was killed by one of her dogs. A 10-year-old boy in Wexford and a 12-month-old girl in Co Kerry were seriously injured by the animals.
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Just last week, an XL bully dog was put down in Dublin after attacking its owner, who ended up in hospital.
The dogs being loaded up into the vans for a new life in Sweden belie this fierce image. All are in shelters or foster homes, so they will not be rehomed after next Tuesday and face being put down.
They are big and muscular, but also affectionate. They jump up on those who have been taking care of them and lick their faces. They have cute names like Dottie, Kenzi, Rocco, Custard and George and are at ease with humans who in turn are comfortable with them.
[ Q&A: the ban on XL bully dogs - how will it work?Opens in new window ]
Minister for Community Development Heather Humphreys has justified the ban based on public safety, but the dog rescuers gathered in Ashbourne don’t see it that way. They believe these animals are no threat to humans if trained properly by responsible owners.
All were angry and many were emotional about the forthcoming ban. “It’s a shame … Heather Humphreys has done this without talking to people on the ground,” said Martina Kenny of My Lovely Horse Rescue. She is visibly upset when putting two-year-old Poppy, a rescue XL bully dog, into a crate for her new life in Sweden.
Andy Cullen, founder of Husky Rescue Ireland, is one of the drivers going to Sweden. Five XL bully owners have asked him to take in their dogs before the ban comes into place. It’s too late, he told them.
He is resigned to the ban’s implementation but feels that dog shelters and pounds should have been given opportunities to rehome the XL bully dogs they have. “They didn’t ask to be born … Give these dogs a chance to live.”
Brenda Fitzpatrick of the Working Animal Guardians (Wag) rescue called for a “permanent amnesty to allow all rescues to rehome XL bully dogs safely and effectively”. Such a move, she believes, would be the humane way of doing things.
The Swedish charity, Hunda Utan Hem (Dogs without a home), have already found homes for most of the XL bully dogs coming from the Republic. Caroline Karlsson from the charity is incredulous that such a ban would be introduced in the Republic.
“It’s dog racism,” she says, and would not happen in Sweden because of strict controls.
“In Sweden, it is not common to treat dogs the way they are sometimes treated here. We don’t have stray dogs at all,” she said.
“We have a whole authority who make sure that we take care of all animals. Responsible breeding is a big part of it too.”
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