Petition Information

Hello Fellow Responsible and Caring Dog Owner,

With the recent mauling of an unsupervised child by an unsupervised dog in a public park, our Prime Minister and others are proposing an extension of Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) to include more breeds and the introduction of mandatory spay/neuter laws.

Responsible dog owners need to take action to stop this unfair and ineffective legislation from creeping onto other breeds, and to ask that legislators repeal BSL and replace it with practicable and workable solutions to address the real issue of irresponsible and incompetent owners.

Breed Specific Legislation has been a miserable failure wherever it has been enacted around the world and has had no appreciable effect on the problems it was claimed to address. Instead, it has caused the unnecessary suffering and deaths of countless innocent dogs, and tragedy and loss to their human families.

Susan Bell - President of The National Dog Warden Association - voices her frustration and despair after 15 years of breed bans in the U.K. here.

We all know from overseas experience that the devoted Pit Bull owner will NOT comply with a breed ban. A breed ban makes criminals out of the law-abiding citizen when they have to lie about the breed of their dog, refuse to register their dog and preserve their beloved breed by flouting a mandatory spay/neuter law. We are NOT, therefore, in danger of losing our Pit Bulls.

But we do have a fight on our hands.

Whatever your feelings in regard to the American Pit Bull Terrier, please don't be fooled into thinking that this is nothing to do with your breed and it won't happen to you, or that BSL doesn't have horrible 'unintended' consequences.

Find out what happened to Ty, Duke and litte Sasha.

Please print off a copy of the petition here and ask your friends and family to help with their support. Then, once your signatures have been collected, please return your clean original forms by post to:

APBTA Inc.,

P O Box 10296

Dominion Rd

Auckland 1446

Faxed, emailed or scanned signatures are not accepted.

Anyone of any age may petition the House of Representatives, including corporations and unincorporated bodies having sufficient identity as organisations. Addresses are not required.

"Pit Bulls today - Poodles tomorrow"

To show our appreciation of your efforts in collecting signatures for this crucial petition, the individual or group collecting the highest number of signatures will receive a gift of New Zealand wines (alcohol free wines from De Vine Health if you prefer) to the value of $150.00 delivered to your door, or the same value in pet products or services from a retailer or veterinary clinic of your choice.

Our successful recipient and their numbers will be published here.

The petition will be placed before the House of Representatives after the next election in 2008 so that it does not end up on the backburner and lapsing because of the election, so plenty of time to corner everyone you know for a signature.

Meantime, keep your dogs out of trouble, off the streets and out of sight of dog control. If they don't see your Pit Bull they can hardly make you neuter him/her. And beware the vindictive neighbour, trouble-maker, dog-hater and the media - give them no excuse.