An Australian minister has supported the call to ban dangerous dog breeds following multiple incidents of attacks.
The comment comes after a man in his 50s in Leppington, Sydney’s south-west, was hospitalised after being bitten by two Rottweilers which escaped their private property on Sept. 18.
The man was in critical condition, with injuries to his head, neck, leg, and arm. The two dogs had also reportedly killed a neighbour’s cat.
While on Sept. 16, a 31-year-old woman in Perth’s south was mauled by her two Rottweilers at her home, with serious wounds in her arms and legs.
She was transported to Royal Perth Hospital and remains in a serious but stable condition.
One of the dogs was shot by the police. It had suffered serious injuries and was euthanised on the same day. Police secured the second dog in a garage until rangers arrived.
In a statement, WA police said upon arriving they saw two dogs attacking the woman. They decided to discharge the firearm “due to the extremely aggressive nature of the dogs and the ongoing risk to human life.”
On Sept. 19, a toddler was airlifted to hospital after being attacked by a neighbour’s dog while playing in his back garden in Ballarat, Victoria.
The boy was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
Bill Shorten, the minister for Government Services and National Disability Insurance Services (NDIS), said some breeds were “essentially sharks on legs.”
“You should ban some of these breeds, they’re a minority,” he told the Today show on Sept. 19.
Mr. Shorten added that he had gone to the funeral of a little girl of one of his constituents who was attacked by a dog and died in 2012.
“Unless you’re a dog breeder, I don’t know why we don’t have a conversation about de-sexing dogs as well,” he said.
“So I certainly think that for a few breeds, absolutely, it just proves that owners can’t control all of them.”
The move comes after the UK government announced it would ban the American Bully XLs by the end of the year following several attacks.
“It’s clear the American XL Bully dog is a danger to our communities,” said UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on X (formerly known as Twitter). “I’ve ordered urgent work to define and ban this breed so we can end these violent attacks and keep people safe.”
The UK home secretary agreed, writing on social media, “This is appalling. The American XL Bully is a clear and lethal danger to our communities, particularly to children. We can’t go on like this. I have commissioned urgent advice on banning them.”
