FOI 514-24 Dog Attacks
Enquiry Reference: 514 - 24
I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request. Below is your request and our response.
The purpose of this request is to obtain information in relation to dogs that attacked humans where the attack resulted in a human fatality. I am requesting information for the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. If your force has not dealt with any fatal dog attacks in the years listed please reply to say that you hold no relevant information and that will be an end to this request.
The purpose of the request is to obtain information about the dog(s) involved in the attacks. I do not require any information that might identify the victim, any police officers involved in the incident, any veterinarian or any other individual linked in anyway with the incident.
I will only require information in relation to the owner of the dog(s) and/or the person in possession/responsible for the dog at the time of the attack if a there has been a criminal conviction.
I do not need the exact date of the incident or the location of the incident. For my purposes it is sufficient to establish in which Constabulary the incident occurred and the year it occurred.
- The year in which the attack took place
- Was the dog(s) microchipped? If the answer to this question is no please go to question 4.
- In relation to dogs that were microchipped please confirm
- If the chip had been recorded on a recognised database and the name of that database
- Was the name of the person who implanted the chip recorded on the database? For clarification I do not need to know the name of the person. I am asking the question to establish if you were able to identify who implanted the chip in the dog.
- If the chip had been registered to the breeder of the dog prior to sale. If the dog had been registered to the breeder was the breeder a licensed or unlicensed breeder?
- If the chip had been registered to the person who first purchased the dog
- If the chip was re-registered to another person (s). If there was any re-registering please give the date(s) on which the chip was re-registered. Re-registering means the dog was registered in the name of a new keeper/owner and does not refer to the same keeper/owner updating their details. Again, I am not asking for any personal information. The point of the question is to establish if a full record of the ownership/ transfer of ownership was kept and was up to date.
- Was the dog’s date of birth recorded, if so what age was the dog at the date of the attack.
- If the dog was imported and, if it was, where it was imported from
- The gender of the dog
- Was the dog’s colour recorded, if so what was it
- Was the dog’s breed or crossbreed type recorded, if so what was it
- Following the attack was the dog(s)
- Shot by police at the scene
- Put to sleep by a veterinarian at the scene
- Removed to a third party location and put to sleep
- With the consent of the owner/keeper
- By Order of the Court
- If the dog was not put to sleep what happened to it
- Was the dog imported into the U.K? I am asking this question in addition to the question about importation at 3 above because the dog may not have been microchipped or the microchip might not have been correctly recorded as being registered to a U.K. database after importation. Potentially a dog imported illegally.
- If a necropsy or other physical examination (before or after death) of the dog took place please provide me with a copy of the relevant report(s)/ paper(s). I appreciate it will be necessary to redact any report(s)/ paper(s). Alternatively, please provide a summary of the report to include (if recorded)
- Age of the dog
- Gender of the dog
- Breed, crossbreed or type of dog
- Weight of the dog
- Height of the dog
- Length of the dog
- If it’s ears had been cropped
- If it’s tail had been docked
- Any injuries that would be considered indicative of cruelty
- Any injuries that would be considered indicative of dog fighting
- The overall condition of the dog and any concerns it had been neglected and/or was malnourished
- Any evidence that drugs (veterinary or otherwise but not including drugs administered for euthanasia or treatment of the dog whilst in police custody) had been administered to the dog
- If there has been a criminal conviction in relation to the incident please confirm
- The name of the person(s) convicted
- The offences convicted of
- The sentence handed down
This is a generic request made to all police forces in England and Wales. I appreciate that each force may have recorded information in a different way. It may be that the information available will differ from dog to dog and I accept you may not be able to provide all the information requested for every incident as you may not hold it. Please provide as much information as you can.
- We haven’t had any fatalities from dog attacks
Please note that all statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice
Yours sincerely
Information Rights Decision Maker