Nearly 25,000 people, including nearly 6,000 children under 10, have required hospital treatment after a dog attack in the last eight years, according to research by the Liberal Democrats. Figures show for Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust that 503 cases were reported making Bucks the 9th highest in the whole country. Of these 152 dog attacks were on children under 18 years of age and more worryingly, 88 were on children under the age of 10.

The figures, released in a Parliamentary answer, show:

• 24,992 people in England required hospital treatment after being bitten by a dog between 2000 and 2008. Of these 9,323 were children aged under 18 and 5,954 were under 10
• There was a 43.3% rise in people requiring treatment in the period, from 2,678 in 2000/01 to 3,837 in 2007/08
• This includes a 65.6% rise in adults requiring treatment and an 11.6% rise in children requiring treatment

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Aylesbury, Steven Lambert, said “It is astonishing that thousands of people are undergoing hospital treatment every year after violent dog attacks. The Dangerous Dogs Act is one of most ineffective pieces of legislation of recent years – costing millions and being completely unworkable.

The huge rise in attacks is undoubtedly due to the worrying trend of dangerous dogs being used as fashion accessories or, worse, as weapons. Irresponsible owners are more likely to make a dog ‘dangerous’ than it being born a particular breed. Police need to be able to get tough with reckless owners of out-of-control dogs, regardless of the breed.”