Vet wants better laws to protect dogs

Dr Gabrielle Beckford, the founder of Animal Welfare Foundation, is urging parliamentarians to amend the various pieces of legislation that are in place to protect animals from abuse. The call comes in the wake of a bill being tabled in the House of Representatives by Justice Minister Delroy Chuck that seeks to impose stiffer penalties on dog owners whose animals bite or even kill members of the public.

The proposed new law imposes a duty on the owner of a dog to exercise management and control of the dog to ensure that the dog does not cause injury to an individual in a public place.

Beckford, a veterinarian, said that the provisions in the proposed law should be expanded to provide more protection to dogs.

"Irresponsible ownership should not be tolerated," she said. "If persons are going to have a dog and they don't plan to tie it up or feed it, carry it for walk, etc., measures should be in place to prevent them from owning one," Beckford told THE STAR.

"I want the minister to be just as strict with the animal welfare laws and the Veterinary Act because there are a lot of illegal vets practising on animals and causing more harm than good," Beckford reasoned.

Beckford says there has been a campaign to have the animal welfare legislation amended due to several cases of cruelty to animals in the country. She pointed, for example, to a case of a live dog being found partially burnt.

"No one can find who is to be blamed. Stuff like that shouldn't be tolerated, just as how dogs biting people is not tolerated either," she said.

No welfare legislation

There is no specific individual animal welfare legislation in Jamaica. Under the Cruelty to Animals Act, for example, a person who cruelly beats, ill-treats, starves, abuses or otherwise maltreats any animal can be fined up to $1,000 if convicted in court.

Under the proposed new dog law, a fine of up to $500,000 or a term of imprisonment of up to six months has been proposed for dog owners whose animals cause injury of a lesser scale to people. On a grander scale, dog owners could be locked up for up to 15 years in any case where attacks from their dogs result in the death of an individual, and the offender is proved to have been present at the time of the attack and to have failed to attempt to restrain the dog or to render assistance to the individual attacked.

Beckford reasoned that the provisions in the new bill are aimed at making sure persons are responsible dog owners. She, however, feels that the bill falls short because it does not take into consideration the issue of provocation.

"Once the dog was taunted, not just verbally but physically, where someone threw stones, and there was a witness to say it was attacked, the owner of that dog should not be charged if the dog attacks a person who tried to attack it," Beckford said.