An Australian band has made an impassioned plea for sniffer dogs to be banned at this month’s Splendour in the Grass in order to prevent so-called “panic” drug overdoses.

Art Vs Science guitarist Dan McNamee wrote to Ballina MP Don Page urging him to help instigate a no-sniffer dog trial for the Byron Bay event.

One band member has written to the NSW State Government asking for sniffer dogs to be excluded from Splendour in the Grass. Credit:Jane Dyson

“Automatically you will cut out the number of hospitalisations due to people panicking upon sight of the dogs and ingesting their whole weekend’s supply of drugs,” he wrote.

“This actually led to the deaths of a young woman at the Perth Big Day Out 2009 and a young man at a festival called Defqon 1 in Sydney’s West last year.”