Attacks by dogs decrease
0 Comments | Nottingham Evening Post, Jan 4, 2010 | by ROB PARSONS
DOZENS of people a year – including several youngsters under the age of ten – are taken to hospital in Nottingham after dog attacks. Figures released by the Liberal Democrats show the city’s hospitals treated 59 dog bite victims in 2007/8, including 10 under-10s and nine aged 10 to 18.
The total is lower than the previous year, when 71 people were treated after being attacked by dogs – including 19 under-10s.
Across the UK some 25,000 people, including nearly 6,000 under- 10s, have needed hospital treatment after a dog attack in the last eight years.
Simon Parker, RSPCA chief Inspector for Derbyshire and Notts, said the way owners brought up and trained their dogs can affect their behaviour.
He said: “If you have children they may pull the ears and things, the dog can react badly, which is why a child should never be left alone with a dog.
“One child being bitten and injured by a dog is too many.”
Niamh Webster-Guy, aged ten, of Cotmanhay, had to undergo three hours of surgery after being mauled by a bullmastiff in February.
She was outside a house when the dog – which has not been put down – is said to have leapt onto a garden fence and struck.
Mum Cheryl, 40, said the experience was “horrific”.
She said: “She will be scarred for life, she has to use specialist make-up. They have offered her further surgery but she has had enough.
“They should be able to put the dog down straight away, it needs to be outlined much clearer which dogs are dangerous.”
The Evening Post has reported on a number of other dog attacks in Notts in recent months.
In August 2008 a dog was destroyed after it attacked a three- year-old girl, dragging her around by her hair.
Lacharnae Wilson, then three, from Radford, had three plaits ripped out in the attack and needed antibiotics.
In November that year, a teenager had to have surgery on her leg after being attacked by a dog as she left the Victoria Centre.
Natalie Dawson, then 18, from Wollaton, was pulled to the floor and suffered deep cuts as the dog sunk its teeth into her leg.
The Dangerous Dogs Act was introduced in 1991 to reduce the risk of dogs attacking members of the public.
But Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats spokesman for home affairs, said: “The Dangerous Dogs Act is one of most ineffective pieces of legislation of recent years – costing millions and being completely unworkable.”
He said that the number of violent dog attacks was “astonishing”.
“The huge rise in attacks is undoubtedly due to the worrying trend of dangerous dogs being used as fashion accessories or, worse, as weapons,” he added.
“Irresponsible owners are more likely to make a dog “dangerous” than it being born a particular breed.
“Police need to be able to get tough with reckless owners of out- of-control dogs, regardless of the breed.”
robert.parsons@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk