100 people are bitten by dogs every WEEK leading to 999 calls for emergency treatment
- - 5,000 incidents involving out of control dogs in England and Wales last year
- - Victims include pensioners, babies, and the dogs' owners
- - Government considering tougher rules for owners whose pets inflict injury
|
Dog attacks are leaving 100 people a week with injuries so severe they need to call for emergency treatment, it was today revealed.
Paramedic crews were called out to more than 5,000 incidents involving out of control dogs in England and Wales last year.
The number requiring urgent treatment includes pensioners and babies.
It comes as the Government considers tougher penalties for dog owners whose pets inflict serious or fatal injuries.
Dog attacks are leaving 100 people a week with injuries so severe they need to call for emergency treatment
Under current laws, they can be sent to prison for a maximum of two years. They also cannot be prosecuted for attacks on private property.
A mother-of-five whose four dogs mauled 14-year-old Jade Lomas-Anderson to death is facing jail after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to the animals.
The teenager was left with bites all over her body and catastrophic injuries to her neck and throat following the attack near Wigan, Greater Manchester earlier this year.
Beverley Concannon, 45, last week admitted a cruelty offence under the Animal Welfare Act when she appeared before Wigan Magistrates' Court.
The mother, who went into hiding in the days after the killing, could face up six months in prison when she is sentenced.
Jade’s parents are now calling for tighter controls on dangerous dogs.
Step-father Mike Anderson, 34, told the Mirror: 'Dog control is based on 170-year-old laws and there’s no enforcement.'
Beverley Concannon (left) whose four dogs mauled 14-year-old Jade Lomas-Anderson (right) to death is facing jail after admitting causing unnecessary suffering to the animals
Newborn Harry Harper was mauled to death by his grandmother’s pet Jack Russell as he slept in his cot, in Shropshire, last November.
The eight day old baby suffered a fractured skull and brain damage after he was bitten by the terrier in his table-top carry cot when grandmother Teresa Bell’s back was turned.
Mrs Bell had taken the eight-day-old infant downstairs to give his parents, Mikayla Bell, 19, and trainee electrician father Tom Harper, 19, a lie-in.
The dog, which had never bitten anybody before and was usually placid, was put down.
Figures obtained by the Mirror reveal that the number of attacks is topping 100 a week.
They revealed that paramedics in the East Midlands have been called to hundreds of attacks.
They had to treat an eight -year-old boy for serious injuries after he was attacked by his grandmother’s American pit bull while on a car journey.
Newborn Harry Harper was mauled to death by his grandmother's pet Jack Russell as he slept in his cot, in Shropshire, last November
Part of his ear was severed in the attack which also left him with bite marks to the right side of his face, a laceration above his left eye, and injuries to his leg.
DANGEROUS DOGS AMENDMENT BILL
The Government's Dangerous Dogs (Amendment) Bill aims to remove the immunity from prosecution of dog owners whose animal attacks someone on private property.
Under the plans for England and Wales, announced in February, a dog owner could be prosecuted if they fail to stop their pet attacking someone on their own, or someone else's property.
The Bill was designed to protect people who visit houses as part of their job, such as postal workers, utility staff and healthcare employees.
In a separate attack, an eight-year-old boy was attacked by his family’s dog after it stuck its head through the bars on a stair gate.
It clamped its jaws around the child's head until his father was able to drag the animal off, and call paramedics.
A 23-year-old mother also fled in terror after her three dogs rounded on her when she tried to intercept a fight between them. She broke a window to escape with her two children - passing them both to neighbours before escaping herself.
One owner also had their nose bitten off in North London, and paramedics were called to treat a 96-year-old pensioner who was attacked alongside her dog by a Staffordshire bull terrier while walking.
Crime Prevention Minister Jeremy Browne said: 'We are taking urgent action to protect the public from out-of-control dogs.
'We are changing the law so owners can be prosecuted for attacks on private property.'
No comments:
Post a Comment