Charities in call for separate dog Bill

Calls for tough action have been fuelled by the death last week of 14-year-old Jade Anderson who was attacked by a pack of dogs at a house in Greater Manchester.

But the six leading organisations said they were “extremely concerned” about a Home Office move to put dog measures in anti-social behaviour legislation rather than a dedicated Bill.

Experts are keen to avoid the sort of knee-jerk response that led to the notorious 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act.

Since 2007 dogs have killed seven people, including five children, in private homes and the NHS also spends more than £3m annually treating dog attack injuries.

The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee last month said the Government had “comprehensively failed” to tackle irresponsible dog ownership.

In their letter, the British Veterinary Association, the Blue Cross, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the Dogs Trust, the Kennel Club and the RSPCA backed the committee’s call for existing legislation to be brought together and improved in a single Bill.

They told Home Office Minister Jeremy Browne they were “very concerned” at the proposed replacement of Dog Control Orders with less specific anti-social behaviour measures.

Allowing untrained council workers or police community support officers to issue orders “could lead to compromises in animal welfare or even make dog behaviour worse due to lack of understanding in these areas”, it added. It could also “lull communities into a false sense of security around dogs and not address the real problem – irresponsible owners.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The new streamlined powers will be faster, more flexible and crucially will allow professionals to stop anti-social behaviour and seek to change it.”