Wide gulf in statistics of out of control dogs across region is ‘barking mad’

Politicians sceptical about huge divergence in numbers of recorded incidents of owners failing to keep pets under control

A massive disparity over out of control dog offences in Courier Country has been described as “ridiculous”.

North East Scotland Tory MSP Liam Kerr said the figures should be much closer and will be taking up the matter with the justice secretary.

He was speaking after police released figures under freedom of information on recorded crimes for failing to keep dogs under proper control.

However, the figures have also exposed widespread confusion over recording procedures with the police themselves admitting they might not provide a true picture of the problem.

In 2017 there were 739 offences across Scotland which included just one in Angus, two in Dundee, nine in Perth and Kinross and 60 in Fife.

Mr Kerr said: “There seems to be a massive disparity . We see one offence in Angus, two in Dundee and nine in Perth, compared to 66 in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire. We know there are many more instances of dogs being left off the lead in Tayside, with the public being at risk.

“It is ridiculous to suggest Aberdeen or Fife have fewer law-abiding dog owners than Dundee.

“If it’s the case that Police Scotland is not resourced enough to investigate potential offending, I will ask the SNP justice secretary to explain why, and soon.”

Fife was fourth in the table with 60 offences just behind 62 in South Lanarkshire, 75 in North Lanarkshire and 96 in Glasgow.

North East Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles said: “There will always be some regional variations, but in this instance the differences are night and day. In Aberdeenshire and Fife almost 100 cases of out of control dogs were reported and lodged last year, for example, while in Dundee and Angus only three cases were recorded.”

Scottish SPCA Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn suggested the disparity might be down to current legislation.

He said: “There are currently two pieces of legislation that can be used to tackle dangerous or out of control dogs.

“The first, the Dangerous Dogs Act, which is breed specific, is currently undergoing consultation at Westminster. This allows the police to take action when a dog attacks a person or another animal in a public area.

“The second piece of legislation is the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act which provides the local authority with the power to issue dog control notices in regards to dogs that are aggressive and/ or out of control in both public and private spaces.

“This act is not breed specific and allows action to be taken before an attack has taken place.”

Two pieces of legislation are used to tackle dangerous dogs.