Plenty has been said and written by all and sundry about the Xemxija dogs that were put down, so here are the facts by none other than those who are possibly in the best position to state them.
Keith Caruana came to my office to put his mind at rest that his dogs had truly been put down, as the police had informed him after he returned from a fishing trip on 26 August that his dogs had been removed following numerous complaints by neighbours
In the presence of several witnesses, he was adamant about wanting proof, such as ashes or photos, that his dogs were truly dead and not homed in some sanctuary where “someone” would be making money from breeding his expensive and rare brindle bullmastiff. In order to put his mind at rest a death certificate was issued by Dr Duncan Chetcuti Ganado and presented to Mr Caruana personally, and in front of witnesses.
The issue whether the breed was described correctly in the certificate by the vet in question was not contested at all at the time since Mr Caruana was satisfied that the dogs had not been “given” to someone else but truly put down. The main difference between a pitbull and a bullmastiff, or rather more precisely the very recent breed Swinford/American mastiff is the size (latter can weigh over 50 kg); otherwise both breeds are banned in many countries and are notorious for their ferocious temper especially with other animals.
Barely a month before, a similar dog owned by Mr Caruana attacked an 80-year-old lady’s poodle that was with her on a leash. The poor lady panicked and she picked up her dog to protect it as best as she could. However, Mr Caruana’s pitbull crossbreed, which was roaming around, dragged the poor dog off the lady’s arms and savagely rendered it into a bloody pulp in just a few minutes. Well, this lady was very lucky she was not attacked as well since in such situations a person trying to shield a cat or dog from an attacking dog often ends up being badly bitten in the frenzy of the attack, as happened in several cases in San Gwann, Pembroke and Swieqi over these last several months.
In one particular incident, a brindle pitbull killed the companion dog of a handicapped person at San Pawl tat-Targa in front of several people, who tried in vain to make the attacking dog relinquish its vice-like jaw grip but to no avail, even after some struck repeated blows to its head with a hard object! I have several eyewitnesses to this attack. Minutes before this pitbull was seen playing around with some people who were trying to keep it away from their drive-in. The day before AW staff had scoured the area after reports that this dog chased the woman after she lifted her cat to safety. The heartless unknown owner of the pitbull female, which showed signs of having had puppies some time before, never ever bothered about taking care of his dog!
Officers from the Animal Welfare Department called on Mr Caruana no less than five times regarding the attack on the poodle but each time Mr Caruana was never found. Written notices were left in the letterbox on every occasion and still Mr Caruana never contacted us.
So when the police called us in to help them catch two ferocious dogs that were reported to have been harassing the neighbours for a long time, four officers were dispatched on site to join two police officers and civil protection people with a ladder.
The situation at Xemxija was under the control of the police, who after all are the legal guardians of the public. Therefore, if any dog is found to be a threat to them or others, they are empowered to put such a dog down on the spot if need be. Several neighbours had complained that the pitbull cross in the balcony often climbed down with ease by jumping onto an adjacent wall on the left-hand side of the low balcony
Hence, I stress that the action taken by the police was more than justified and Animal Welfare staff simply followed police instructions to the letter. When both dogs (the brindle was roaming around unchained before being caught) were in the custody of the Animal Welfare officers, I received a call on my mobile from one of my men who briefed me about the action taken. I asked to speak to the police sergeant in charge who informed me that it would be best to put down the dogs since numerous serious complaints had been made about them. I was also informed that the police had tried in vain to contact the owner, but the sergeant on site had contacted the owner’s mother to inform her about the action to be taken.
When I asked my staff who the owner was so that we could start separate legal action against him under the Animal Welfare Act, I was told that this was one of those cases that the owner is apparently never “found”, since the same owner was involved in a similar accident barely a month earlier and never came forward. Hence my only decision was to have the dogs put down on the advice of the police.
Before the last Xemxija incident we had already tackled scores of similar cases where the owners disown their dogs when they learn that we would be taking court action against them, or the victims would be suing them for medical expenses for letting loose their dogs to attack people or their pets.
For the sole benefit of the self-appointed canine experts voicing their opinion in the media and who had a field day deriding the Animal Welfare Department, please note that we have responded to over 80 calls for help in such dog attack situations. In one case in Marsa several sheep were mauled to death, and in Siggiewi less than a year ago a Bullmastiff identical to that owned by Mr Caruana killed a horse by grabbing hold the neck of the poor animal in its huge killer jaws till the animal bled to death from its severed jugular arteries.
Incidentally, I informed Mr Caruana about this particular incident when I explained, at length, to him why with certain dog breeds like his, we have great difficulty keeping these animals in our overflowing dog sanctuaries for any length of time. Strangely enough, Mr Caruana did acknowledge this and said he had known about this particular incident!
Now to return to the scurrilous claims reported in the press (TMIS, 13 September) made by Mr Caruana who is trying his very best to play the victim when in actual fact he is an irresponsible dog owner who will have to answer for his behaviour in court. The current law on dangerous dog breeds in Malta is ineffective and badly needs amending – simply banning the importation of certain “fighting dog” breeds but then allows those on the island to be bred without any control is totally absurd! In most EU countries these dogs are banned (keeping and importation) completely and those kept under strict control must be neutered.
The vile practice of organised dog fighting in Malta, which admittedly is not as widespread as it used to be, would be dealt a mortal blow if these particular breeds were banned completely!
In the 18 months that the Animal Welfare Department has existed, we have worked relentlessly to bring to book animal abusers of all sorts, ranging from big time fraudsters to sheer cruel monsters; more than 20 court cases are set to be heard in the very near future. If it were up to us the sooner and the stiffer the punishment the better!
What is grossly unethical is the way Mr Caruana has abused the media (so keen lately on animal welfare issues) by handing out photos taken when the dogs were much younger, which show him cuddling them as if the ‘grinning’ dogs were so unjustly put down. Any sincere owner of dogs related to the pitbull breed would honestly admit that these dogs are not to be trusted with other animals and that their tremendous strength, although a major asset if they are used as guard dogs, must be well controlled by their owners.
A case in point is the fact that although my officers are all practised dog handlers and own several dogs of their own (some adopted after left abandoned on the streets), they had to use the dart gun on the dog that attempted to jump from the balcony and the “smiling” brindle 50-kg muscled mastiff required great strength to handle especially in the presence of other dogs.
However, what is even more repulsive is the way some people with hidden agendas jumped on this bandwagon of sorts to try and dent the Animal Welfare Department’s credibility. To the motley armchair critics brigade on the blogs I assure them that only in rare circumstances do we put down dogs and most are homed at Noah’s Ark, AAA-Marsa and SPCA – some are even sent to Germany and other countries to be homed thus making space for other strays.
The villains are always those people who abandon their dogs and, until micro-chipping all dogs becomes a legal requirement and, most importantly, more people are willing to come forward to report cases of animal abandonment, the situation with strays will not improve. That it why we always appeal to genuine animal lovers to adopt animals from sanctuaries.
In most cases of killer dog pack attacks we investigate, the dogs involved are nearly always irresponsibly ‘owned’ dogs, and it is no strays that are to blame, although conveniently for some the latter pay the price.
Dr Mario Spiteri
Director
Animal Welfare Promotion & Services