Huge rise in dog attacks
DOG bites are putting hundreds of people in hospital across Greater Manchester.
Exclusive NHS data – provided to the M.E.N. – reveal there were 435 occasions in 2018/19 across the city-region where a person was bitten or struck so badly by a dog that they had to be admitted to hospital. That was up from 360 admissions the year before.
Modern records go back as far as 2014/15 – that year there were also 435 hospital admissions because a person had been bitten or struck by a dog.
Across England there were at least 8,410 hospital admissions due to dog bites in 2018/19.
That was up from 7,940 the year before and marks the highest number recorded since at least 2014/15.
The figure is likely to be even higher, because the NHS has suppressed admissions among trusts where fewer than seven admissions took place in order to protect patient anonymity.
NHS guidelines advise that people should always seek medical advice if bitten by an animal where the bite has broken the skin.
People with particularly severe bites should visit their A&E department.
The NHS also advises that young children should never be left unsupervised with a dog – regardless of its breed and previous behaviour.
The news comes following the death of a woman in Cheshire last month who was mauled to death by her two pet American Bulldogs.
Richard Woodward, public affairs assistant at Blue Cross, said: “Fundamentally, the evidence shows that the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (DDA) is ineffective at dealing with dangerous dogs, or protecting the public from dog attacks.
“It is clear that a dog’s behaviour, and therefore its aggression levels, are impacted by a range of factors, such as the way it was bred, and the experiences it has had throughout its lifetime, as well as the way it has been trained or not trained by its owner.
“Any dog of any breed can be aggressive towards people if it has not been socialised properly, or has undergone traumatic or stressful events early in its life. Sadly, irresponsible dog ownership can often lead to dog attacks.
“It is essential that incidences of dog bites and dog attacks are properly recorded so we can have access to robust and up-to-date data on the scale of the problem.”