Rise in A&E cases after dog attacks

Nearly 3,800 people in England needed emergency hospital treatment after being attacked by dogs last year - a 40% rise over a five year period, NHS figures revealed yesterday.

The Liberal Democrats said the rise was "enormously disturbing" and called for a review of the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act to make owners more responsible.

The number of under-18s admitted to hospital had risen by about 20% with a 58% rise in injuries to adults.

"There is a worrying trend in some areas of using dangerous dogs as fashion accessories or, worse still, as weapons," said the Lib Dem health spokesman, Norman Lamb, who obtained the figures through parliamentary questions.

"Dogs often only become violent as a result of mistreatment by owners or because of a failure to train them properly ... no one knowingly puts their child in danger but it seems that the message is not getting through."

The north-west had most A&E admissions related to dog attacks - 241 under-18s and 426 adults in 2006-7 - although the starkest rise among young people was in London where numbers more than doubled from 58 to 127 in five from 2002-3. Nationally there were 1,277 incidents involving under-18s and 2,510 involving adults, up from 1,066 and 1,586.

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act four types of dogs are banned - the pit bull terrier, japanese tosa, dogo argentino and fila brasileiro. It also lays the legal blame for attacks on owners or those in charge of dogs. The government said the act and other legislation dating from 1871 encouraged "the owners of all dogs to exercise safe control".

The figures coincided with the launch of a scheme in London by three animal charities, the Metropolitan police, Greater London authority and Wandsworth council.

Mark Callis, a dog warden and spokesman for the People with Dogs project, said: "It's a common sight to see kids hanging out on street corners with dogs and their behaviour can be very intimidating."

Met police figures for 2007 reveal 943 reports of dogs being out of control.

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