Rise in pet owners collared for failing to control danger dogs

Published on Wednesday 4 June 2008 10:24

A SOARING number of pet owners in the Lothians are being charged with failing to keep dangerous dogs under control.

Police officers charged a total of 75 people with letting their pets run loose last year – treble the number caught four years ago.

Owners are typically charged when they allow their dogs to wander the streets, causing them to attack people or other animals. Other cases have involved traffic accidents caused by dogs running around on their own.

The Scottish SPCA said the steep rise in charges may be due to a growing lack of care and supervision given to pets, as well as the "macho culture" of buying dogs such as Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

A number of incidents in recent months have seen people attacked by unsupervised dogs, including the case of an East Craigs woman who required surgery to her hand after being bitten by two Staffies.

Police chiefs today said the "vast majority" of owners were responsible but added they would "not hesitate" to prosecute those flouting the law.

Jo Wilson, spokeswoman for the Scottish SPCA, said: "If an animal is on a leash, or off its leash but the owner is present and supervising, then that does not break the law.

"If a dog ends up wandering the streets alone, it's classed as a stray. If a person or another animal is attacked, or the dog causes a road hazard, charges can be brought.

"There is a macho culture of wanting certain breeds of dogs as a status symbol. Some of these owners then fail to exercise the responsibility of ownership.

"They are treated as macho dogs and not socialised properly. Owners can also fail to train their dogs properly. That may be because they have not considered all that is needed to keep one or, with increasingly hectic modern life, owners cannot devote the time to look after them properly."

Tracy Warren, secretary of the Scottish Staffordshire Bull Terrier Rescue charity in Baberton Mains, agreed a lack of responsibility among some owners was behind the swelling number of charges.

She said: "We get calls from people who say they've been charged and want their Staffie rehomed. We ask how did they get out and the owners say, 'oh, he kept getting out the garden'.

"Unfortunately, some people don't want the level of responsibility they take on when they get a Staffie or any other dog."

A police spokesman said: "While the vast majority of dog owners are responsible, there are occasions when owners fail to meet their responsibilities and place other members of the public at risk. On these occasions police will not hesitate to prosecute."

In March, Julie Hounsom had to undergo reconstructive surgery on her badly mauled hand following an attack by two Staffies who were wandering the area. The 43-year-old was injured while trying to protect her own dog in Maybury Drive, East Craigs.

The owners were charged with failing to keep a dangerous dog under proper control under section 2 of the Dogs Act of 1871.