An online petition to save the life of a Rottweiler which attacked and badly injured a four-year-old girl in Matosinhos on Tuesday, already has over 8,000 signatures.
The petitioners want the dog to live and state that it the owners of dogs that should be punished, not the animal.
The public petition to "prevent the slaughter of the Rottweiler, which by 18:20 today had 8,498 signatures, is not intended to play down the attack on the girl, but argues that owners of animals that do not comply with the law are duly punished as stipulated by law.
Four-year-old Inês Fernandes was attacked by the Rottweiler and, with injuries to her head and face, ended up in the Hospital de São João in Oporto where she underwent surgery and is out of danger.
Inês is said by her father to recall the attack in which her mother also was injured. There has been an argument about the Rottweiler being off its lead and unmuzzled and the girl was attached twice by the animal.
The owner of the dog, Márcio Lourenço, already well-known to the local police for acts of aggression, was in court yesterday and allowed home pending the outcome of inquiries.
The dog is being held in the municipal kennel where in less than two weeks its fate will be decided.
The petition says that it is essential that the owners of these types of dangerous dogs are "responsible not only for the welfare of the animal", but also that they are "responsible for the using a lead on public roads to prevent possible accidents and endangering other people (...) or the animal itself."
The petition argues that the dog that attacked the child should be rehabilitated and cared for by someone who knows what they are doing.
As for the owners of animals that do not comply with the law, they must be "properly punished as stipulated by law," the petition adds, stating that anyone has the right to go to public places without being concerned by the presence of animals that are not on a lead or without a muzzle."
"Any law against for which people know there is no enforcement, does not work. There must be more follow-up with the dog owners of the seven potentially dangerous breeds," said Jorge Cid, president of the Veterinary Medical Association.
Matosinhos council said today that the dog will be "quarantined for at least 15 days" at the Official Collection Centre of Matosinhos and will be evaluated by the municipal veterinarian, after which it will be up to the court to decide whether or not the animal will be destroyed.”
The petition 'Nao ao abate do Rottweiller em Matosinhos' is opn this link: http://peticaopopular.com/view.aspx?pi=PT82202
Below is an endearing picture of the dog in question.
