Dog owners are left “powerless and deeply frustrated” by an absence of legal effects for dog-on-dog attacks, the Commons has actually heard.
Conservative Anna Firth informed MPs the law ought to be altered so that the owner accountable in a deadly dog-on-dog attack can be held criminally accountable.
The MP for Southend West in Essex advanced a 10-minute guideline costs in the House of Commons on Tuesday which she said would execute the modification if enacted, and would likewise need police to tape dog-on-dog attacks.
She said her Animal Welfare (Responsibility for Dog Attacks) Bill would modify the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to need an individual in charge of a dog to take “all reasonable steps” to guarantee their animal does not fatally hurt another dog.
Ms Firth informed the PA news firm she started campaigning for what she is calling “Emilie’s law” after a man in her constituency, Michael Joannou, concerned her “incredibly distressed” and “inconsolable” and stating his dog Emilie, likewise called Millie, had actually been fatally hurt in an attack by another dog in a regional park.
It is not the dogs that are the issue. Dogs have owners, and every dog owner has an obligation to guarantee their dog does not fatally attack another one
Anna Firth, Conservative MP
She informed the Commons: “Only 14 police forces currently record a dog-on-dog attack as a separate incident. However, of that 14, in 2016, there were 1,700 dog-on-dog attacks reported and recorded.
“Since lockdown, with everyone buying their Covid-19 pandemic puppies, the numbers have skyrocketed. In 2021, the same 14 police forces recorded 11,559 dog-on-dog attacks, a 700% increase.”
She said taking the dog might have caused approximately 7 years jail time, stating: “But because she was brutally torn apart by someone else’s dog, nothing could be done.
“Not surprisingly, this leaves pet owners feeling powerless and deeply frustrated. It’s also no doubt the reason why police forces don’t even record such awful incidences.
“Plainly it is not the dogs that are the problem. Dogs have owners, and every dog owner has a responsibility to ensure their dog does not fatally attack another one.”
She included: “Emilie’s law will empower owners to pursue justice if their beloved pet is brutally attacked, whilst not demonising any particular breed or creating unhelpful stereotypes around certain breeds of dogs.”
She went on: “The Bill will also compel local police forces to record dog-on-dog attacks as separate offences so that finally the full scale of these awful offences can be seen and counted.”
This dog had actually simply come at her – truthfully it resembled something in the Serengeti
Michael Joannou, who said his dog was fatally assaulted
Describing the attack on his dog, Mr Joannou informed PA: “It happened in seconds. I was screaming at the owner to remove the dog.
“Somehow the owner did get the dog off. This dog had just come at her – honestly it was like something in the Serengeti.
“When you see a loved one of yours opened up in two and still alive, there’s not a lot worse you can ever experience.”
He said she was then required to the veterinarian where she needed to be put down.
“The police couldn’t do anything,” he said, indicating what he thinks about to be a space in the law, and included: “It means that something you love can be torn apart and killed with no consequences.
“It’s like medieval law.
“This country’s law on it is absolutely pathetic. I’m standing up for it because it’s wrong, and what I’m asking for is right.”
