There is a category of dogs that sometime in their past were bred to fight or attack and are now being called protection dogs. This combination is far more dangerous than dogs bred only to protect such as the German shepherd, Rottweiler, and Doberman.

Will the SPCA remain carefully silent about these fighting/protection breeds as it has remained carefully silent about any issue that might upset donators?

The average animal-lover in BC believes that these breeds are just getting a bad rap in the media, and if the SPCA told the truth and took a public position that these breeds ought to be banned, would react by making no more donations to the SPCA.

The SPCA's official position is that it does not distinguish between breeds, just behaviour of individual dogs. That false position means that the SPCA will kill any dog once there is a victim but it will not prevent more dangerous dogs from being born and it will not try to prevent there being more victims.

This falsity is going to come back and bite the SPCA just as all its falsity has.

To defend the breeding of dogs that are deliberately bred to be dangerous, while taking money to kill any that do attack (after there is a victim - and that victim is almost certain to be a child), is the height of irresponsibility, hypocrisy, and self-serving. But it is the craven way the SPCA has historically acted.

It is unlikely that anyone in BC kills more dangerous dogs than the SPCA does. It is by far the largest dog control contractor in the province. It may still have 50 or more contracts, it won't say. The next largest dog control contractor is the Capital Regional District which has thirteen contracts (Sidney, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Colwood, Langford, Metchosin, Highlands, Sooke, Juan de Fuca Electoral Area, Outer Gulf Islands, Salt Spring Island).

By not urging government to ban fighting/protection breeds such as Pit bulls, Presa canarios, Cane corsos, etc, the SPCA has let legislators start enacting regulatory laws that will include breeds such as Rottweilers, German Shepherds, and Dobermans. Legislators are starting to demand million dollar insurance coverage for all breeds that register high on bite tables. But insurance companies will not insure what is a high risk of claims, or will, but will demand such high premiums that very few will be able to afford to insure their Pit bull or German shepherd.

When owners can't buy insurance they will have to move to another jurisdiction or have their dog killed. By not eliminating the most dangerous breeds, there is the risk that all breeds that register high for bite risk on insurance actuarial tables will be eliminated, even the ones that register high because there are so many of them, like German shepherds, Rottweilers and Dobermans.

Defenders of all breeds are driving the elimination or extreme regulation of many breeds.