March 16, 2004
The Constitutional Court of Germany issued their judgement in the trial over
the Import Ban, initiated by the German Kennel Club in 2001.
Photo: John Alfons.
The import ban is legal and will stay in power until further
evidence is presented to the court that these 3 breeds (American
Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bull Terrier) and the
pitbull are not a danger to the citizens of Germany.
The breeding ban was sent back to each individual state of Germany.
The initial federal breeding ban was hinged on the 1998 Animal Protection
Law, stating that in some breed lines of the American Staffordshire Terrier,
Bull Terrier and pitbull there could be heightened aggression.
The court threw this out saying the people cannot be protected with the
animal protection law...so it is up to each of the 16 states to decide
whether to enforce a breeding ban or not.
This means, that in
each of the German states there are different laws concerning dangerous
dogs. Those states which have a breed list and a breeding ban will
uphold these laws. There is a different list of breeds in most states,
in a small handful there is no list. Basically, this means if you have
a breed of dog NOT listed, you are allowed to breed again. Some of
these states have restrictions which must be adhered for breeding, two
states have no restrictions or breed list.
As I write this page, the SPD and Green parties of Germany are once again on the warpath in Berlin to initiated another nationwide breed ban. They were the original political parties to start this trouble and are not happy with the courts decision to throw out the federal breed ban. We have read that a breeding ban draft may be on the table as early as this fall.
What this means for the Bull
Terrier Defense case?
Our lawyer said the Administration Court was waiting for the decision of
March 16th before continuing with our case. Some items were revealed
by the justices of the Const. Court that has prompted Rudi and I to change
our strategy some. They continued to point out a possible genetic
connection between these dogs breeds and aggression and also used alot of
statistics, quite falsely I must add.
This is where we stand in
Germany at the moment. As soon as we have a court date it will be made
public.