January 20 – According to new figures from the UK National Health Service this month, more than 6000 adults and children were admitted to hospitals over the year to March 2011, after being “bitten or struck by a dog”.

While exact figures were unavailable for the previous years, The Guardian newspaper reported that this represented the fifth successive year on-on-year increase.

The evidence of the ineffectiveness of the UK’s breed specific regulation comes amid continuing demands from animal welfare charities, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), for changes to the discredited Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA), which was rushed through the House of Commons by former Prime Minister John Major in 1991.

“It is probably the worst bit of legislation that’s ever come onto the statute books,” Laura Vallance, of the Dogs Trust told the newspaper. A spokesman for the RSPCA dismissed the DDA as “not fit for purpose”.

A government spokesman said negotiations were “at a very advanced stage” on reforming the law, and suggested that details would be announced early in the new year, possibly within the next three months.

According to research commissioned by the RSPCA, two in three UK dog owners favor licensing because they believe animal welfare will improve. Indeed, the remarkable success of the Calgary (Alberta) Animal Services Responsible Pet Ownership Model is due, in part, to dog license compliance exceeding 90%.  Calgary dog owners see value in licensing their dogs, both for themselves and their pets. The high rate of licensing compliance appears to have led to compliance with other provisions of the animal bylaw as well. In contrast to the dismal situation in Britain, dog bites, serious or otherwise, have fallen to historic lows in Calgary.

The British government would do well to study this successful regulatory model from elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

To learn more about The Calgary Model, use the link below.

http://www.nationalcanineresearchcouncil.com/calgary-alberta/

(Compiled from reports that appeared in The Guardian Newspaper and London Telegraph)