Malta’s Animal Commissioner has called on Malta’s politicians to stop using Pit bulls as a metaphor for something aggressive and bad.

“Gone are the days when animal lovers will look away. Gone are the days when they could be ignored, and now with an election around the corner, gone are the days when animals had no vote,” Alison Bezzina said today.

She said that the idea that Pit bulls were some sort of evil breed was a “harmful myth” that kept on being perpetuated.

Her post comes after Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo shared a lengthy political status alongside an image of an aggressive dog, asking people whether they were going to vote for a “pitbull” or a “gentleman”, making it clear that being a Pit bull had negative connotations.

Bartolo later uploaded a status saying he “really loves animals” after hundreds of people called him out on his anti-Pit bull language.