"Time to tame our four-legged fiends"

The Independent has run an article on dangerous dogs:

"The Dangerous Dogs Act was supposed to put a stop to the proliferation of aggressive 'devil' breeds on British streets. Instead, the problem posed by four-legged fiends is worse than ever. Alan Selby and Kevin Rawlinson investigate

[...]

More than 6,000 people were treated in hospital in 2010-11 because of a dog attack with one in six of them involving children under 10.


The Kennel Club says the rise in attacks has been caused by the increased attractiveness of banned breeds, which it said are looked upon as "status dogs". 


Bill Lambert, a senior official with the Kennel Club, said the maligned Dangerous Dogs Act has "highlighted certain breeds as being particularly dangerous, which has attracted some people towards these dogs". A spate of high-profile cases has given added impetus to a campaign by families and animal-welfare groups to persuade the Government to rewrite the discredited Dangerous Dogs Act, which bans four breeds but has been criticised by dog owners, victims' families, police and breeders for being unworkable. The Metropolitan Police alone spends about £2m a year on kennelling dogs that have been seized under the Act.


[...]



Steve Goody, director of external affairs at Blue Cross, said: "The current Dangerous Dogs Act is totally inadequate. We need new legislation with tougher measures covering out-of-control dogs wherever they are and whatever the breed, allowing authorities to step in before attacks happen."


Animal-welfare groups claim that the increasing numbers of attacks are linked to the rise in aggressive dogs being bred and trained for hunting and dog-fighting. Some groups said that they were training more investigators and bringing in former police officers to try to stem the practice. "


Read the full article here.