Oh dear. It seems that those strategic geniuses in the SNP have done it again. This week saw the ban on XL bully dogs come into force in England and Wales, following a string of violent attacks by the pugnacious breed. But up in the people’s paradise of Humza Yousaf’s Scotland, ministers there decided that they knew best.
In November, the SNP government formally rejected a request from Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, to introduce similar measures ‘in light of the threat to public safety’, and to avoid the obvious risk of ‘creating a potential dumping ground for dangerous dogs’ in Scotland.
Two months on and – quelle surprise! – the Scottish press is now full of reports that an ‘alarming’ number of the breed are being moved north of the border to avoid the English ban. Underheugh Ark Rescue, an animal charity in the west of Scotland, wrote online that: ‘We have seen many “pop-up rescues” moving huge numbers of dogs to Scotland. Dogs are being dumped at police stations, sold on sites after being given away free in England and worst still they are being found dead.’
It means that those same Scottish ministers are being reduced to begging XL bully owners not to bring their dogs to Scotland to be rehomed. Siobhian Brown, the self-identifying ‘community safety minister’, yesterday told BBC Radio Scotland’s Drivetime programme that the onus should be on England and Wales to hold owners accountable for their actions. Talk about chutzpah!
Brown has even written to the UK government to urge that ‘people in England and Wales do not use any loopholes … in getting rid of their dogs’ – something that, er, she herself could have ensured by making it a mainland-wide ban. Talk about an XL-sized problem, all of the SNP’s own making…
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