Animal Repellent Attacks on the Rise

Armed with a traditional firearm and animal repellent spray, two men tried to break into a home after midnight over the weekend. Even though two residents were successful at preventing the intruders from entering the home, they were unable to hinder the two suspects from spraying them with the canisters.

Before police arrived at the scene the suspects had fled the area. Unfortunately this is the second incident that has taken place. The first happened on Saturday morning where six people were targeted, including a toddler, who were sprayed inside their home.

The attacks are happening just as the local government is attempting to crack down on businesses that sell the spray. Businesses that sell the animal repellent spray without a license, or who breach license requirements, or who don’t keep correct records could see business owners facing fines, and even time in jail.

As a result of these incidents the Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiative is asking for businesses to obey the rules when it comes to the sale of these products. These actions are necessary as they are intended to stop individuals from employing the spray as a weapon. Its design after all is for protecting a person against animal attacks, not for use on a human only to gain entry into their home in a forceful manner.

Unfortunately with the rise of self defense devices in use every day, it also means that there is a rise in the illegal use of these tools as well, which means a tougher crack down for police and the government at stopping those whose intentions are aimed at being harmful.

A device that was designed with safety in mind has quickly become a tool that many individuals are using for harmful means. As a result of this self defense companies are seeing a drop in their numbers because the general public is associating their products with harmful intent.

And yet this is not what they should be used for. Not everyone is able to defend themselves successfully with their hands, so they rely on personal safety products such as animal repellent spray to protect them, especially against dangerous animals such as bears.

In order for the name of these safety tools to rise business owners need to look long and hard at themselves and their customers to see what type of people want to purchase them and their meaning behind buying them.