The New Zealand Government has announced an action plan that will see animal shelters like the SPCA banned from re-homing dogs they see as "menacing".

Thousands of innocent lives are at risk.

What is going to happen to all the dogs that are guilty of nothing else than their visual appearance?

By making it illegal for animal shelters to re-home dogs of certain breeds, the Government are effectively condemning them to die.

Dogs will be judged - not on their character or temperament - but on how they look.

Their life will literally be determined by the shape of their face, or the size of their nose, or the colour of their eyes.

Not by how much they love their family, or playing with their friends at the beach, or how they would do anything for a chin scratch.

The SPCA believes that each individual dog should be judged based on temperament and behaviour, not breed. This is why each dog re-homed by the SPCA undergoes health and behaviour assessments.

This is not right. We won't stand by and allow innocent lives to be lost. Please stand with us.

Will you join our fight to stop the Government and help save these innocent lives?

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This law change is part of an action plan the Government has rolled out in an attempt to reduce dog bites in our communities.

But we know that trying to fix this complex problem by killing thousands of dogs guilty of nothing but the way the look will not work.

How do we know this?

Breed specific legislation has categorically been proven in studies worldwide not to reduce dog bites

Many countries - including our Australian neighbours - are repealing their breed specific legislation because this does not work

We believe responsible dog ownership and public education are key to making positive change in our community

Animal lovers - please tell the Government the lives of these innocent dogs matter. We can't do this without you.