Hundreds of individuals have been handled in Essex hospitals for accidents brought on by canine assaults within the final 12 months, new figures have revealed, with severe incidents and fatalities on the rise nationally. NHS figures confirmed that hospital consultants carried out an estimated 330 therapies on individuals who had been bitten or struck by a canine between April 2022 and March 2023.
The determine refers to completed marketing consultant episodes – a time period used to file a steady interval of admitted affected person care beneath one marketing consultant inside one healthcare supplier. That was up from round 325 episodes the 12 months earlier than, and was a giant enhance in comparison with a decade earlier, with round 220 episodes in 2012/13.
It mirrors a worrying nationwide pattern of rising incidents, with terrifying canine attack movies going viral on social media, and a spate of high-profile fatalities making headlines in recent months. Just a couple of days in the past a 13-year-old was driving his bike in Colchester when allegedly bitten on the leg by a dog, leaving him with 4 wounds.
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Separate figures present that throughout England, there have been 9,277 hospital admissions the place the affected person had been bitten or struck by a canine in 2022/23. That was up from 8,819 the 12 months earlier than, and a file excessive, with the quantity rising steadily since no less than 1998 when figures started.
Meanwhile, a small variety of folks tragically die from canine assaults yearly – and there was a recent spike in fatalities. In the final 20 years or so, the variety of deadly canine bites has averaged at about three per 12 months. However, in 2022 there have been ten fatalities, and there have been eight to date this 12 months.
Much of the media consideration on canine assaults has centered on American bully XL dogs particularly – a variation of an American pit bull terrier and American Staffordshire terrier cross that’s significantly giant and highly effective.
While the American bully is thought to be a particular breed within the US, it isn’t recognised as such by the primary British canine associations, such because the Kennel Club.
Dogs suspected to be American XL bullies have been concerned in a number of high-profile assaults, together with three of the eight deaths seen this 12 months.
In response, the federal government has added them to the record of banned dogs in England and Wales, beneath the Dangerous Dogs Act. From 1 February subsequent 12 months it will likely be unlawful to personal one, until the proprietor has efficiently utilized for it to be exempt.
However, some consultants are sceptical that the ban shall be efficient in tackling the continued rise in severe canine assaults. Speaking to Annie Gouk for The North in Numbers, Professor Carri Westgarth, Chair in Human-Animal Interaction on the University of Liverpool, mentioned: “I can see an argument for breed particular laws in the truth that sure breeds usually tend to trigger harm in the event that they do chunk.
“However, we solely appear to ban sure breeds, whereas others that additionally characteristic extremely in fatalities appear to be left off these lists, so it’s a bit illogical in that sense. Banning has additionally been fairly tough to really do in observe, particularly when breeds just like the pit bull and now the American bully should not clear, outlined breeds.
“And does it work – has banning pit bulls stopped there being pit bulls within the inhabitants? No. Thirty years on from banning pit bulls we nonetheless have them they usually’re nonetheless concerned in severe bites.
“The majority of canine bites are additionally simply by on a regular basis pet dogs of all types of breeds, you usually see the most typical breeds within the hospital admissions knowledge. So simply by banning a small variety of breeds, the potential to have an effect on canine bites and canine assaults typically is minor.”
Meanwhile, a number of of the UK’s largest animal charities have known as for an finish to the Dangerous Dogs Act, branding it “flawed, outdated and ineffective”.The RSPCA, The Kennel Club, Dogs Trust, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and Blue Cross are amongst these calling for the act to be scrapped.
In the podcast episode, George Bloor from Dogs Trust mentioned: “The authorities’s plan may be very, impossible to cut back the variety of bites. Dogs Trust and the broader sector imagine it’s extremely doubtless that 12 months from now we’ll be having one other dialog about one other breed that’s probably needing to be banned, and we’ll be persevering with with this cycle of canine assaults, with the general public not being protected due to these knee jerk reactions.”
Bully Watch, a bunch that campaigned for an entire ban of the XL bully breed, have been invited on the podcast to debate their stance, however didn’t reply.
