Scottish Government confirms new restrictions on XL bully dogs
The community safety minister has blamed the impact of new laws south of the border, as legislation is replicated here
Owners of XL bully dogs in Scotland will be subject to new safeguards as the Government replicates UK legislation.
Scottish community safety minister Siobhian Brown said the move is "right and proper" amid concern over an influx of dogs being abandoned in Scotland.
The first phase of the regulations will make it an offence to sell, abandon, give away, or breed an XL bully in Scotland.
No date yet confirmed for new rules coming in to force
A date for when the rules will officially be imposed has yet to be confirmed, however owners wishing to keep their dogs will also need to keep the XL bully on a lead and muzzled in public.
The second phase will see owners able to apply for their dogs to be added to an exemption index to keep them.
Owners wishing to keep their XL bully will have to pay an unconfirmed fee - £92.40 in England and Wales - to register the pet.
But compensation will be payable to owners who no longer wish to keep their pet, including reimbursement for euthanasia.
UK Government "failed to consider knock-on impacts"
Announcing the safeguards in a ministerial statement in Holyrood, Ms Brown blamed the UK Government for failing to consider the "knock-on impacts" of controls being implemented south of the border.
She said: "As the First Minister set out last week, the UK Government failed to act to stop dog owners in England and Wales evade the new controls by bringing their dogs to Scotland.
"That changed the balance of whether we needed to act here in Scotland.
"These are exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves. It means that it is now right and proper that we replicate the controls being implemented south of the border."
ScotGov also to look at potential improvements to Control of Dogs Act
The Scottish Government will also look to make potential improvements to the 2010 Control of Dogs Act to enhance the preventative dog control notice scheme.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said the measures on dangerous dogs are being introduced five years too late, after the Scottish Parliament's Public Audit and Post-legislative Scrutiny Committee said the Act was "not fit for purpose".
But Ms Brown also said: "We recognise the vast majority of dog owners are responsible animal lovers and will want to keep their XL bully dogs and comply with these safeguards when they are introduced."