Scottish government to ban XL bully dogs without a licence
It’s following reports people have been bringing the animals to Scotland in order to avoid restrictions in England and Wales
First Minister Humza Yousaf has said the Scottish government will "in essence replicate" UK laws banning XL bully dogs without a licence.
It’s following reports people have been bringing the animals to Scotland in order to avoid restrictions in England and Wales.
Under the recently-enacted UK Government legislation, the breeding, selling and abandonment of the dogs is illegal, while owners need to secure a certificate by February 1.
A spokesman for the First Minister was unable to say how many XL bully dogs have been moved north of the border to avoid the law.
Scotland seeing "flow of XL bully dogs"
The First Minister said: "What has become clear, I'm afraid in the last few weeks, is we have seen a flow of XL bully dogs coming to Scotland, a number of people coming to Scotland to bring XL bully dogs here to the country.
"As such, we will give further details to members of the Scottish Parliament through a parliamentary statement if the parliamentary bureau agrees next week.
"We will, in essence, replicate the legislation that is in England and Wales here in Scotland because ultimately, although we do have a very good system of dog control notice schemes, and we do take the approach indeed not to breed, we have to respond to the situation as it currently stands and therefore we will do what we need to do to ensure public safety."
Scottish SPCA "has not seen an increase"
A spokesperson for the Scottish SPCA said the charity will comply with the decision, and that it supports legislation "to protect the public".
It added: "However, we are disappointed that the Scottish Government has decided to take the same route as the UK Government.
"We remain opposed to a ban of this type on a specific dog type, which we believe is not the most effective way to protect the public. Instead, we believe any breed of dog can be potentially out of control and dangerous in the wrong hands.
"The Scottish SPCA has not seen an increase in the number of XL bully dogs coming into our centres since the restrictions came into force in England and Wales.
"We urge the Scottish Government to ensure that any legislation is introduced with a sufficient transition period to ensure that owners have the time and support needed to be able to exempt their dogs.
"We also call on the Scottish Government to ensure that the teams responsible for enforcing this law have the resources and training they need before the ban begins, to ensure that no more dogs than absolutely necessary become caught up in this."
Scottish community safety minister Siobhian Brown is expected to make a statement laying out the policy in more detail next week.
Conservative MSP Jamie Greene said: "This is a humiliating U-turn for Humza Yousaf and the SNP Government.
"The First Minister and his colleagues have wasted months playing political games and causing worry, only to now announce they will, rightly, replicate the UK Government's ban anyway.
"Having picked a needless fight with the UK Government, the SNP appeared blindsided by these dogs being rehomed in Scotland - when everyone else knew it would be the inevitable consequence of their actions.
"SNP ministers' stubborn refusal to back a sensible UK-wide policy only put lives at risk in Scotland, caused unnecessary confusion and has led to huge repercussions over animal welfare."