Hundreds of individuals have been handled in Merseyside hospitals for accidents attributable to canine assaults within the final yr, new figures have revealed.
New figures present that hospital consultants in Merseyside carried out an estimated 505 remedies on individuals who had been bitten or struck by a canine between April 2022 and March 2023. The determine refers to completed advisor episodes – a time period used to report a steady interval of admitted affected person care below one advisor inside one healthcare supplier.
That was up from round 490 episodes the yr earlier than, and a giant improve in comparison with a decade earlier, with round 310 episodes in 2012/13. The latest episode of The North in Numbers – a Laudable podcast manufacturing by the ECHO’s owner Reach PLC – takes a have a look at the info on canine assaults.
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In the episode, Kayleigh Rooney recounts being set upon by a Japanese Akita at a buddy’s home in Aintree when she was simply 15. Kayleigh, from Kirkdale, previously told the ECHO how she was grabbed by the dog and was knocked unconscious. When she woke she was dragged throughout the room, earlier than the canine took maintain of her face, shaking and biting her.
Sustaining extreme accidents, Kayleigh was admitted to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital after her high lip and nostril have been ripped in half by the attack. She underwent reconstruction however was left “lined in scars.” She informed The North in Numbers podcast: “I simply bear in mind seeing his mouth was huge open and I used to be considering ‘oh he’s going to chew me right here’ and there’s nothing you are able to do.
“He should have knocked me out with the power as a result of I simply bear in mind being on the ground. You know when a canine performs with a toy and so they shake their head quite a bit, he was doing that, and I bear in mind considering to myself if I pull again now, there’ll be nothing left.”
The figures on Merseyside mirror a concerning national trend 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. 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 yr earlier than, and a report excessive, with the quantity rising steadily since a minimum of 1998 when figures started. While Kayleigh bounced again from the vicious canine attack – by turning into an award-winning canine groomer – not everyone seems to be so fortunate.
A small variety of individuals 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 yr. However, in 2022 there have been ten fatalities, and there have been eight thus far this yr.
You can see the place recent deadly assaults took place utilizing our interactive map:
Much of the media consideration on canine assaults has targeted on American bully XL dogs particularly – a variation of an American pit bull terrier and American Staffordshire terrier cross that’s significantly massive and highly effective. While the American bully is considered a particular breed within the US, it’s not 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 yr. In response, the federal government has added them to the record of banned dogs in England and Wales, below the Dangerous Dogs Act.
From February 1 subsequent yr it will likely be unlawful to personal one, except 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, stated: “I can see an argument for breed particular laws in the truth that sure breeds usually tend to trigger injury in the event that they do chew. 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 troublesome to truly do in observe, particularly when breeds just like the pit bull and now the American bully are usually 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 and so they’re nonetheless concerned in severe bites.
“The majority of canine bites are additionally simply by on a regular basis pet dogs of all kinds of breeds, you typically 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 normally is minor.”
Meanwhile, a number of of the UK’s greatest 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 among those calling for the act to be scrapped.
In the podcast episode, George Bloor from Dogs Trust stated: “The authorities’s plan may be very, impossible to cut back the variety of bites. Dogs Trust and the broader sector consider it’s extremely probably that 12 months from now we’ll be having one other dialog about one other breed that’s doubtlessly 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 group that campaigned for a complete ban of the XL bully breed, have been invited on the podcast to debate their stance, however didn’t reply.
You can hearken to The North in Numbers podcast here.
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