The UK is a nation of dog lovers, but for how much longer? Trevor Cooper says the affair may be coming to an end
The death of five-year-old Ellie Lawrenson, who was mauled by her uncle’s pit bull terrier early on New Year’s Day, has inevitably prompted debate about the effectiveness of our dog laws. How do you draft a law that prevents dogs from attacking people when the fact of the matter is that all the time we have dogs there will be occasions when they will act dangerously?
For over a century, the Dogs Act 1871 (DA 1871) has allowed proceedings to be brought against an owner of a dog in a magistrates’ court if the dog is considered dangerous and not kept under proper control. If the complaint is proven the dog may be destroyed or made the subject of a control order. However, the court doesn’t have the power to impose criminal sanctions on the owner.
In 1991, there was a spate of dog attacks on children and adults; in response to this the government introduced a new
