Merseyside Police launch campaign to prevent dog attacks as region tops injury list

National World - LocalTV

Merseyside Police, alongside partner including The Communication Workers Union, University of Liverpool, and local councils have joined forces to help reduce dog bites.

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00:00 Merseyside Police, alongside partners including the Communication Workers Union, University

00:07 of Liverpool and local councils, have joined forces to help reduce dog bites.

00:11 We've launched it this time of year because our data shows that the dog bites increase

00:15 over the summer months and then they increase again over the summer holiday period. 25%

00:20 of our victims are dog bites in Merseyside or children under the age of 16. So we know

00:24 that it's an issue right the way from dog bites, whether you've got a dog that will

00:27 bite once, to dog attacks where you get a sustained attack and multiple bites of an

00:32 individual and we're trying to reduce these in Merseyside by teaching people to make sure

00:36 that what dog they get suits their family home, that what they've got as their set-up

00:41 at home meets the needs of the dog.

00:44 Over the summer holidays Merseyside Police will post a series of videos on social media

00:48 to educate dog owners and join with partners to speak to people in parks and other public

00:53 places.

00:54 Our research at the University of Liverpool has been looking at hospital records to see

00:58 what's been going on with dog bites and from that we can see that the greatest number of

01:03 hospital admissions is in the Liverpool city region and three of those areas are actually

01:10 in the top ten local authorities in the country for dog bites.

01:14 In 2022 there were tragically two fatal dog attacks on Merseyside. 17-month-old Bella

01:21 Rae Birch was killed after she was attacked by a dog in her home in St Helens and 65-year-old

01:27 grandmother Anne Dunn died following a dog attack at a house in Kirkdale.

01:31 We recognise that we've seen two really heartbreaking incidents last year where two people lost

01:36 their lives as a result of a dog attack but also we do see high numbers across Merseyside

01:42 of dog bites in particular and we know that it spikes over the summer as well so the campaign

01:46 today, the Taking the Lead campaign is all about having that conversation with the public,

01:50 having that conversation with dog owners, trying to encourage them to think about where

01:53 they're getting their dog from, making sure they pick the right dog for their environment

01:57 and making sure that they then put that training and socialisation in place so there's no risk

02:01 to them, to their family or the public.

02:03 Between 1998 and 2018 around 5% of all national hospital admissions in relation to dog bites

02:10 occurred in Merseyside with Knowsley containing the most incidents per population across 333

02:17 local authorities in England.

02:19 We know that it's really closely linked with deprivation so some of the poorer communities

02:23 in our city are going to be the most impacted.

02:27 Why there's been an increase, we're not 100% sure and we don't know why so most people

02:33 will say there's more dogs which is true, there are more dogs but actually the growth

02:39 in dog bites is going a lot faster than the growth in the dog population so something

02:45 else is going on rather than there just being more dogs about in the city.

02:49 Royal Mail recently announced there had been 1,916 dog attacks reported on its staff last

02:57 year across the UK.

02:59 That's an average of 37 attacks every week.

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