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MP tackles dog owners
A SHEFFIELD MP is trying to change the law to make it easier to prosecute dog owners following an attack.
Hillsborough MP Angela Smith is introducing a bill in Parliament which, if passed, would help stop owners avoiding prosecution for attacks by their pets because they happened on private land.
Currently it is difficult for criminal action to be taken unless dog attacks are committed in a public place.
The Bill has received backing from the RSPCA and the Communication Workers Union, which represents postal workers.
Mrs Smith said: "If you are bitten or mauled by a dog in someone's garden or house it is very difficult to take action against the owners of the dog.
"I feel this is not right. Owners need to be made to be responsible for the dogs no matter where the dog is.
"Recently there have been for too many cases of visitors to people's homes being attacked by dogs with the owners getting away scot-free.
"This is not acceptable and would like to see measures put in place to make sure owners take full responsibility for their dogs wherever they are."
On New Year's Eve 2007 nine-year-old Chloe Grayson was mauled by a Rottweiler at a party in a neighbour's house on Wilberforce Road, South Anston, leaving her face permanently scarred.
The dog - named Bully - was seized by police and initially made the subject of a destruction order by magistrates after being branded a danger to the public. But owner Lee Pearson appealed against the destruction order and won.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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