Mad dog mania

Once again, following the death of 5 year old Ellie Lawrenson, gored to death by her uncle's pit bull terrier on Monday, the spotlight has turned on Britain's so called dangerous dogs. We have laws to stop people importing or breeding for sale four types of dog - American Pit Bull terriers, Japanese Tosas, the Dogo Argentinos, and the Fila Brasileiros and in addition laws which punish the owners of dogs which are 'dangerously out of control in a public place'.

Many people, including many dog experts are saying that Britain is taking the wrong approach with this and far more attention should be paid to the reasons why people own a dog and where they keep it, rather than singling out particular breeds. For example in the case of the tragic Ellie it seems by no means clear that her uncle broke any laws. The dog appears to have been a cross breed and the child's injuries occurred in a domestic house not in a public place.

One might well ask why a 5 year old child was left in the company of a Pit Bull terrier but the law does not cover that situation. The injuries from another dog attack are shown below



My own view is that there should be graduated licensing dependent on the type of dog you wish to own, far stricter penalties on the owner should that dog kill or seriously injure someone and very strict rules on the places where such dogs are kept. It is perfectly clear that many of these animals are kept as attack dogs and are a macho status symbol for the guys in the tank top shirts, the tattoos and the boots who walk round our housing estates with their pit bulls and Rottweilers in tow.



This seems to be yet another situation where Britain has introduced a half arsed law that cannot easily be enforced and doesn't solve the problem