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The Maltese Herald

Alicia Bugeja Said is going to adopt all the bully breeds herself

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by

Mark Camilleri
in

Of course bully breeds should be banned, why is the fraudulent Alicia Bugeja Said even giving her dumb opinion? Alicia Bugeja Said, the tuna-lobby-funded-Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Animal Rights has come out against a proposal by animal rights NGOs to ban the breeding and importation of bully breeds. She doesn’t have a logic to this position other than that the Labour Party is a party of criminals and criminals use bully breeds. The proposal is a good one because it increases security.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone living in densely populated areas like Malta to own bully breeds considering that the risks outweigh the privileges in legal priority. Animal shelters are full of bully breeds no one wants, so eventually sterilising them or giving them a miserable life is the only alternative. There is no compassion in this legal system, and it only favours criminals who use these kind of dogs for obvious purposes of fighting.

I don’t care if you are a “good person” and own these dogs because this should not be a matter based on opinions or personal views. There are social aspects to be considered. The views of narcissistic politicians matter little if any at all.

Comments

  1. Il Gahan avatar
    Il Gahan

    I?m sorry, your reasoning here is just flawed. So let’s say the breed is banned. What about Rottweilers? This breed is also sought after by criminals. A few years back, a child and a mother were mutilated in public. The dog was owned by someone irresponsible enough to leave it off-leash in a public garden filled with children. What about Belgian Malinois and German Shepherds? These dogs are very close to wolves, very strong, and highly energetic. In the wrong hands, they can be worse than a pitbull.

    Also, how and who exactly decides what a bull breed is, and when it is dangerous? What if there is a mix of breeds where a dog is around 20% pitbull yet has all the features of a pitbull? Will you ban outright any offspring of pitbulls? Will there be genetic testing for their breed purity (usually the ideas of fantastic not socialists 😉 ) ?

    The problem you’re mentioning can apply to any high-energy breed. If you’ve never owned a high-energy dog and are used to house dogs, I can see why you’re reaching such conclusions. But be aware that what you’re saying cannot be applied to the pitbull breed alone. Banning it won’t have any different effect from banning other high energy dogs; criminals will just move to another breed. Because you haven’t addressed the real problem, which is fully human: humans exploiting powerful and energetic dogs for criminal purposes. Address the root problem and realize the full spectrum of the issue at hand. Just because you have experience and own a pitbull with large field , doesn’t mean that regular people like us can’t own one. Many people live in apartments and have very well-tempered pitbulls who have lived with them for years (just like people have owned dobermans, germanshpread (not the showone, BUT a working-German-shreped almost another dog altogether). etc). The only people who cause problems are those influenced too much by Hollywood and rap music.

    Reply
    1. X12 avatar
      X12

      By your reasoning, why lock up any criminals, when there still others uncaught running around. Why remove from society one mass murderer or school shooter, when in a few months there will be another.

      Reply
      1. lI Gahan avatar
        lI Gahan

        LOL I think you haven’t understood at all my reasoning…. SO a dog is not a human , they do not premeditate crime, they respond to the here and now based on their live experience which is shaped by what we HUMANS give them…. Their breed does effect their temperament TRUE, but a well trained pitbull is not aggressive towards humans, and can usually be controlled around other dogs, some pitbulls go very well with other dogs aswell if trained/socilized from a young age…

        ALSO how in the hell are you gonna remove a school shooter, from school months before he does it… are you gonna go to school interviewing all students and assume that any one with mental health issue is a potential school shooter ??? what kind of messed up world do you want to live in my friend X12 ???? Guilty by looks ? Guilty by attitude, but committed no crime at all ?

        The argument here is this, PROPERLY evulate each situation, realize that the solution to outright ban a dog breed will not fix the issue, since people who have criminal intentions for there pets will not be stopped by YOU , or the malta police, becuase they will find hops around a silly ban…. You need regulation, education … AN outright ban studidy meta tahseb biss sa toqba ta sormok, u ma tindunax ili ghawn malta il bans qatt ma hadmu, il gahan malti fubo bizzjed ….

        Reply
      2. Il Gahan avatar
        Il Gahan

        Not my reasoning at all, seems you didnt read what I said…. if you live in malta you know that the Maltese are cunning enough to find loopholes easily when it comes to an outright ban….

        Banning a breed like pitbulls won’t eliminate the issue because criminals can easily move to other breeds. The real problem lies in irresponsible ownership and the misuse of powerful dogs for criminal activities. Addressing these human-related issues through education, stricter ownership regulations, and promoting responsible dog ownership practices is crucial. It’s not about targeting specific breeds but rather about creating a safer environment for everyone by addressing the root causes of dog-related incidents.

        Reply
  2. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand avatar
    Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

    Of course they’d do that, yet another vote-catching exercise as the only people who own such breeds (with very rare individual exceptions) are thugs and criminals who would feel emasculated having any other dog.

    I cannot recall how many quasi-incidents, and one incident which lead to my having to get stitches, due to these sort of dogs and related breeds.

    Reply
  3. X12 avatar
    X12

    The reasons you state is precisely why these breeds need to be banned in Malta as they have been elsewhere. There is absolutely neither the political will nor the acumen to instil any form of discipline on the island.

    Not to mention names, but do you recall an incident in Pieta where a person was killed by their relative’s pitbulls? They had been bred for fighting, kept in appalling illegal conditions in a very small house, mainly on the roof, neighbours had been raising alarm for many months? After the person was killed Animal Welfare deemed it Unnecessary to remove all the dogs from his care and just took the ones who killed. He was cleared of ‘animal cruelty’ despite vets stating that the facial scars indicated that the dogs were being used for fighting. Some time later karma bit (him, not only on the ass but most of his limbs), indicating that it was a bad call.

    Many people involved in animal NGO’s are air-headed poseurs, who think that ‘animal activist’ is a ‘persona’ that will get them lots of facebook likes. They don’t have the slightest frigging clue of what is involved in dog and cock fighting, and will try to re-home the confiscated dog by hiding the background and calling it a ‘poor puppy’; nice home will make it a nice doggy, and (usually a she) will be a saviour hero. Someone I know fell for one of these fake placements, was falsely told that the dog was gentle and loving, had been a neglected family pet that was kept on a balcony. After being introduced to the home, it turned and killed her yorkie in about three seconds. It could have been her grandchild. And when she immediately returned it, instead of being apologetic insulted her calling her a nasty human and that she had ‘betrayed the puppy again’.

    So no, until there are changes that make Malta fit for purpose, breeding and importation of bully breeds needs to be banned.

    Reply
    1. Il Gahan avatar
      Il Gahan

      I understand your concern, but banning specific breeds won’t fully address the underlying issues. Even if pitbulls are banned, irresponsible owners will simply turn to other breeds like Rottweilers or German Shepherds. Will those breeds be banned too?

      The focus should be on individual dog behavior and responsible ownership. If a dog poses a danger to humans, regardless of breed, appropriate measures should be taken, including euthanasia if necessary. It’s not a fault of the breed but of improper upbringing, similar to how humans can exhibit problematic behavior due to their environment/upbrining, though re-educating certain dogs is almost impossible, and dog prison would be laughable, so yes such dogs need to be put down that is the solution to such problems …. sad but unenviable… again I reiterate , if u ban the bull breed , someone like the guy you mentioned will just find another breed, so your half-ass baked solution to an outright ban doesn’t really fix the problem at all….

      Regarding the incident you mentioned, it’s tragic but not representative of all pitbull behavior. Pitbulls are often aggressive towards other dogs, not humans (especially those trained for dog fights, that is all they know, so would another dog with a prey drive which is not again limited to pitbulls ). The unfortunate situation occurred because the elderly woman was trying to protect her small dog. It’s about applying common sense and addressing specific behavior issues rather than blanket breed bans.

      Reply
      1. X12 avatar
        X12

        The elderly lady (IG) was in her own home with her pet – her marital home in which she had lived her long married life and brought up a family with her husband who had relatively recently passed away. She and her little chihuahua had every right to be there. The situation occurred because person (AG) was unfit to have any dog, let alone several, and due to his greed for inheritance was trying to use them to bully her out of the house. She had every right to love and protect her little dog, just as you say you love yours.

        By your reasoning, I should be able to keep a tiger cub in a one bed flat. He’ll be a cute little foofie, share my bath and sleep on the end of my bed. He will grow, sure, but because I am clever and special, or so I think, he will grow to be a very well behaved little 140 KG tiggly wiggly, no danger to me or anyone else, just because, I’m you know, I’m spesh and know better.

        Reply
  4. Barbara Woodhouse avatar
    Barbara Woodhouse

    It’s pertinent to note that the dogs in the pic belonged to Andre Galea – the same Andre Galea whose dogs had mauled his elderly grandmother to death months earlier, in her own home – outside which the photo shown was taken. Yes, unbelievably, Galea was still keeping bullys, in the very same house where his grandmother was horrifically killed, by his dogs. How and why was he allowed to do that? Who knows, but what a f*cking disgrace. He would routinely have 6 – 8 bullys living in that house, and he left them unattended 90% of the time, literally living in their own shit poor neighbours!), up on the roof while exposed to the elements – Summer and Winter. They would bark and cry constantly, day and night. NUMEROUS REPORTS to the ‘pertinent’ authorities were made, and largely ignored. Ignored that is, until that poor old lady was killed.

    Galea himself was attacked by his two dogs while ‘taking them for a walk’ at around 1am – which is bullshit, so where had he been with them so late? He managed to kill one of them with a knife he was carrying (why?), then took refuge on top of car until the emergency services arrived, took him to hospital, and captured the other dog that was roaming the streets in the meantime.

    Reply
    1. Colette Berman avatar
      Colette Berman

      After his elderly grandmother was killed, Animal Rescue did not deem it necessary to remove the remaining dogs from his – less than competent – care, even though vets gave evidence that due to the extent of their facial scarring, they felt confident to state that the dogs were being used for dog fights (which is incidentally illegal). It is fallacious to say (as a commentor does above) that fighting dogs will only attack other dogs and not humans and are therefore safe in homes, as experience in other countries had amply demonstrated otherwise.

      Reply
      1. Barbara Woodhouse avatar
        Barbara Woodhouse

        Dog fighting…. where do you think he was coming from, while ‘walking the dogs’ that night they attacked him? Rhetorical question of course. The day his grandmother was ‘murdered’, the authorities took away as many of his bullies as they could fit in their van. But they didn’t then come back for the ones they’d had no room for! Those stayed at the house – in the same, cruel and squalid conditions – for many months to follow. That night he was attacked? I was on the dogs’ side – 100%. Evil bastard.

        Reply
  5. Alexei avatar
    Alexei

    This situation like others faced by law abiding citizens has gotten out of hand and beyond any form of control as our inept politiicians lack both the political will and acumen to tackle this problem. Il gahan has referred to the training of pitbulls!! Who are the owners of such breeds who bother to train them? Who has the necessary skills and experience to train such animals locally? Can anyone guarantee and certify that after such training these breeds are safe and can be trusted e.g with children? The current situation calls for humans, particularly parents with toddlers and infants to be trained and prepared in the eventuality that their loved ones are attacked by such vicous breeds. No gahan nor bullshit theories are going to come to your aid or your children if some ferocious dog attacks them. Be prepared. Carry the necessary tools. Dedicate time to learn how to use them and if push comes to shove eliminate the threat asap and deal with the owner afterwards if need be.

    Reply

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