Tracy Oldfield

I find this particularly scary, being in Britain and seeing how much
influence Germany has in the European Union.

Tracy

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To: taffie@..., [email protected]
From: MCM <ridgebak@...>
Date sent: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 09:25:58 -0500
Send reply to: [email protected]
Subject: [shs] OT FW: [ast-apbt-fast] News from Germany

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Permission to forward the following is granted.

During the past several weeks there have been some
strange developments in
Germany regarding dogs. Germany, through local and
national legislation,
has banned about 40 dog breeds ranging from any sort of
Bulldog (even little
ones) to Mastiffs to various Hounds, virtually any dog
over 16 inches,
depending on where in the country you live. People
walking dogs are being
attacked on the street with guns and sticks. Even a
Labrador was beaten to
death. It is some sort of mass hysteria and is getting
very little
international press coverage. Germany is a very
influential member of the
European Union. If they pass such laws, they will
eventually be brought to
the Union and passed. With the strong pressure within
UN and by the WTO for
a broad-ranging set of international laws, such
legislation will eventually
reach North America. Please take this seriously and
write to President
Clinton asking if he is aware of the situation in
Germany and telling him
that you are.

If you speak German you will find German-language
information on the net
regarding this. Please write to German officials,
particularly the Minister
of the Interior, Holstein, who seems to be a big mover
in this matter.

If this is of no interest to you, I apologize. If you
would like more
information, please write to me as I have a great deal
of anecdotal info,
which seems to differ somewhat from what the official
online news resources
are saying. Finally, if this all comes to pass, it is
hoped that people
will be allowed to get their animals out of the
country. If you feel you
would like to provide a home for one of these dogs, let
me know.

I am a Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder. Although RRs are
not on the list, they
might as well be. I already know of one unborn litter
of pups that have no
homes because people are afraid. In some small areas
of Germany RRs are on
the list.

Marguerite


The official list:

>die 16 Rassen, die in der Kamfpfhunde-VO aufgenommen
werden sollen, =
sind:

 1. American Pitbull Terrier bzw. Pit Bull Terrier
 2. American Stafford Terrier bzw. American
Staffordshire Terrier
 3. Staffordshire Bullterrier
 4. American Bulldog
 5. Bandog
 6. Bullmastiff
 7. Bullterrier
 8. Bordeaux Dogge, Dogue de Bordeaux
 9. Dogo Argentino
10. Fila Brasileiro
11. Kangal (Karabash)
12. Kaukasischer Owtscharka
13. Mastiff
14. Mastin Espanol
15. Mastino Napoletano
16. Tosa Inu<


>>The German parliament concurs with the state
parliaments and joined in the
>>tirades of the boulevard press for political gain
from the horrible death
>of
>>a small boy.
>>
>>For years the politicians and government offices have
not show the least
>>interest in even starting to deal with such criminals.
>>
>>Now hundreds of thousands of dog owners and their
families are branded
>>criminals and discriminated against by the parliament
and state
>parliaments.
>>
>>In a country where the government thinks it has the
right to tell a
>>neighboring states which of its democratically
elected parties can
>>participate in forming the government, dog owners are
treated rudely, spit
>>at and beaten on the open streets. Honorable family
men leave their houses
>>after dark to avoid the mob, which has been incited
by the politicians.
>>
>>To top it off the minister for the interior of
Schleswig Holstein called
on
>>the citizens to denounce dog owners with the
regulatory government
offices.
>>
>>With my sense of honor and justice violated I hereby
declare publicly, and
>>ask all dog owners who agree to do the same, that I
feel discriminated by
>>the German parliaments who are imposing their will on
me.
>>
>>Politicians, who for reasons of party politics are
not able to bring the
>>simplest of foundations of our living as a community
in tune with reality,
>>want to tell us when we must go shopping, what we eat
and watch on TV and
>>what dogs we can own.
>>
>>
>>Our politicians have in one breath ignored the entire
scientific research
>of
>>the last 40 years from Konrad Lorenz to Eric Zimen to
Dorit
>>Feddersen-Petersen at the institute for house animals
at the University of
>>Kiel and the results of the German veterinarians
meeting. Since their own
>>guesses count for more than the judgment of the
experts I ask myself if we
>>are governed on the basis of guesses and chance. If
the breed lists do not
>>sound snazzy enough a few breeds are quickly
invented, such as the
Ban-Dog,
>>the roman and Chinese fighting dog so they can be
disallowed again and to
>>give the impression of surpassing the other
regulations.
>>
>>I hope that our scientists speak out clearly and
loudly and stop this mass
>>dying brought on by the politicians ineptness.
>>
>>I ask the humane societies and veterinarians not to
be made the slaughter
>>houses of a misguided policy. Aggressive biters must
be put down
>immediately
>>as they pose a danger to us all. Germans living in
the US watch the
>>happening in Germany with dismay, they cannot
understand why the most
>>popular American pets; the staffordshire terrier and
the stafforshire
>>Bullterrier are denounced as fighting dogs in Germany
and why we do not
>lock
>>up the criminal dog owners who endanger the public.
>>
>>No dog owner should say it is not his/her concern,
the Bullterrier
today -
>>the German Shepherd tomorrow and the king poodle the
day after tomorrow.
If
>>we do not all stick together then one breed after the
other will vanish
>>based on the arbitrary will of the state and due to
dumb politics. No
>>politician can explain how some dogs show up on the
different lists.
>>
>>
>>The press as well must answer the question why their
hunger for ratings
has
>>not led to far and just how far the freedom of the
press goes.
>>
>>This file may be copied freely as long as it remains
unchanged. I ask
>>webmasters to repost and people who like dogs to pass
this on.
>>
>>
>>
>> > Jörg Dickmanns
>> > Stralsund
>> > joerg@...
>> > http://www.joergdickmanns.de
<http://www.joergdickmanns.de>
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