PUSH TO BAN PIT BULLS AS PETS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The Sizwe Kupelo Foundation has called for the immediate ban of pit bulls as domestic pets in South Africa following several reports of pit bull attacks in the country in 2022.

The call has been necessitated by the recent attack in which a 10-year-old was killed by his family’s two pit bulls in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The foundation has also ignited an online petition to ban the breed, which has accumulated over 20,000 signatures so far.

“These attacks continue unabated, and we cannot continue losing young people like Storm Nuku and innocent civilians to these vicious dogs that have repeatedly shown that they should not be kept as pets,” said the foundation.

Countries such as Finland, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and others have banned and put restrictions on the ownership of the breed or its importation. The foundation’s founder and patron, Sizwe Kupelo, has called on the South African government to follow suit.

However, the spokesperson for the pit bull Federation of South Africa (PBFSA), Lehanda Rheeder, said that while the pit bull has an inherent temperament, the aggression of any dog towards people is not a breed problem but a human one.

“Dogs have been bred historically for certain functions, and while the pit bull is one of many dog breeds that have been bred to have an aggressive temperament, it was intended to be towards other animals – not humans,” said Rheeder in an interview with SAfm.

She added that the problem comes when that aggressive tendency is targeted towards humans by other humans – through training to be a guard dog or for dog fighting, which is still prolific in South Africa.

“Dogs such as the American pit bull terrier – among others – are more likely than not to be loving and loyal pets if it’s bred and kept in a sound and stable environment,” said Rheeder.

Kupelo disagrees with Rheeder, saying that a pit bull is not a domestic pet. There are plenty of other breeds South Africans can own, but pit bulls should not be one of them, Kupelo said.

“The defence by pit bull lovers that it is how you raise the dog does not hold water. So many people, including joggers, have been attacked and killed by pit bulls,” Kupelo added.

The federation suggests that existing pit bulls should be castrated or sterilised to prevent breeding and to ensure “we do not have more of these vicious dogs”.

Kupelo also suggested that government consider licences for certain breeds, such as pit bulls, boerboels, and rottweilers.

He went even further by suggesting that all remaining pit bulls be handed over to the police department to be utilised in the K9 division.

“It is time that the South African government takes decisive steps. We cannot continue sending out messages of condolences for something that can easily be prevented,” said the foundation.

“We are calling on other animal lovers and organisations to make similar calls to put more pressure on the government to ban these vicious animals soon,” it added.