91Èȱ¬

Official NHS figures obtained by Eye on Wales show that over the last decade the number of people admitted to a hospital bed following a dog attack has risen by 60 per cent, from 234 in 1999/2000 to 373 in the year ending March 2009.

The figures don't include those victims who are treated in Accident and Emergency departments or doctors' surgeries, which indicate that the headline rate of such attacks in Wales is much higher.

But they have sparked debate on how best to bring the numbers down.

Betty Williams, the Labour MP for Conwy, knows what it is like to be a statistic. She was attacked while walking in a park close to her home - even though the dog involved had been put on the lead by its owner at her request.

"As we were passing each other this Rottweiler leapt in front of his owner towards me and bit me quite viciously on my right arm," she tells Eye on Wales.

"I had to go to the GP three times and the A&E at Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor three times. My arm is disfigured, I still experience pain and discomfort when I'm writing and also have discomfort when I'm eating."

Just how many people are falling victim to such attacks is not easy to establish. Christine Chapman, the Labour AM for the Cynon Valley, resorted to the Freedom of Information Act to get the full picture.

She asked South Wales Police to check its records for the number of incidents over the last three years - and what came back alarmed her.

"There were over 800 dog attacks reported, some were pretty horrific. You're talking about attacks on children, attacks on pets. Some pets were actually killed. This was very worrying."

"There is evidence now that dogs are being kept for protection - they're known as status dogs - you're talking about rival gangs, you're talking about protection. It's not good."

A large number of the cases uncovered by Christine Chapman ended up with the dog owner receiving a police caution or letter of warning under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

It is a controversial piece of legislation which bans some types of dog as well as making it a criminal offence to allow any dog to be "dangerously out of control in a public place".

Many working in the field of animal welfare view the Act- which was rushed through Parliament in 1991 following a spate of fatal attacks - as flawed and missing the point.

"We must ensure that dogs are kept safely - for the dog's welfare as well as human welfare," Sian Edwards of the Dogs Trust tells the programme.

"But that should be based on individual cases, not blacklisting a perfectly well-behaved, well-trained, well-bred dog just because it is a particular shape or happens to look like a certain breed."

The Westminster Government stands by the legislation. Following consultation on the law in 2007, DEFRA - the Whitehall department with responsibility for dangerous dogs - concluded the Act to be sound.

But outside of Westminster, other law-makers are looking to reinforce the workings of the Dangerous Dogs Act.

The Scottish Parliament is pursuing dog control notices. Also known as "dog Asbos", they would allow councils to impose restrictions on owners who do not control their pets.

And here in Wales, the compulsory micro-chipping of dogs is under consideration as part of wider Assembly Government plans to control the breeding and sale of dogs.

Your responses:

Graham from Swansea:

We have a 2-year-old old cocker spaniel and she was attacked by three dogs on the street whilst my wife was walking her. Thankfully she survived and after a week she is back to as normal as can be.

The dogs that attacked her were loose and ran from their front garden crossing the road to get to our dog. She was traumatized and so was the rest of the family.

These irresponsible owners need to be taken to task and punished for the despicable way they flaunt the law and the local bylaws and if nessessary their animals should be taken from them.