Ennvironment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Written evidence submitted by Charles Wells

I heard you talk on the BBC news on the 27th March, following the horrific killing of a young girl by 4 out of control dogs.

You said that the problem was mainly about the owners not training their dogs correctly or not giving them a loving home. In part this is true.

However, I have walked my dog in the local park for the last 12 years and I have seen the number of dangerous dogs in the park increase hugely especially over the last 6 years. These dogs are in the main Staffordshire Bull Terriers (Staffies) and Mastiff dogs.

The reason I am writing to you is to explain that while the owners should be responsible the reality is that these types of dogs are by nature inherently dangerous, they instinctively will attack and kill other dogs and peopleIchildren.

The problem is the nature of the dogs; they were bread to be dangerous and you will not resolve this unless you ban completely these breeds of dogs in the UK. How many more deaths are you prepared to accept? Please ban these dogs.

One other solution which all the dog owners I know would be in favour of is bringing back a dog licence, but this time the cost would be high—£100 a year, this would then deter the types of owners who keep dangerous dogs, The licence would have to be on the dog’s collar and if there was no license the person with the dog at the time would be prosecuted as well as the owner.

You must adopt a strong approach to this huge problem—how many more children have to die before government takes action?

April 2013