In the news

According to the Guardian, apparently the original legislation was that banned dogs were put down:

Under the original legislation, banned dogs had to be destroyed, and courts did not have any discretion in cases where owners were arguing that their dogs had no history of violent behaviour. That led to a spate of newspaper stories about affectionate family pets supposedly being put down without justification.

Subsequently the act was amended to give the courts some discretion, and the legislation is now viewed more favourably.

Don't know obviously the extent of that discretion