FOI ref: FOI-2024-2130
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I would like to kindly request the following information and statistics:
In the period 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 please advise the number of dog bites reported to Police or hospitals within the UK
In the period 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 please advise the number of Level 3 (Dunbar Scale) injuries within the UK
In the period 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 please advise the number of Level 4 (Dunbar Scale) injuries within the UK
In the period 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 please advise the number of Level 5 (Dunbar Scale) injuries within the UK
In the period 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 please advise the number of deaths occurring from dog bites within the UK
In the period 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 please advise the breeds of the offending dogs from the total in request 1
In the period 1st January 2024 to 30th June 2024 please advise how many dogs were seized following a dog bite incident
And of the dogs seized in request 7, how many of those dogs were euthanised
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We do not hold information on the number of dog attacks, or the breed of dog involved that have been reported to police. This information may be available from each police force within the UK.
We do not hold any information on the number of people injured by a dog attack or the severity of the injury. Information on people hospitalised following a dog attack in England is available for the years 2007/2008 to 2022/2003 from NHS England and information for Wales may be available from NHS Wales or Public Health Wales.
We are responsible for the production of mortality statistics for deaths registered in England and Wales. This is driven by information collected from death certificates at death registration. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules.
The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:
the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or
the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury.
Deaths due to accidents such as dog attacks are routinely referred to a coroner for investigation therefore are subject to registration delays.
The median registration delay for all deaths caused by accidents registered in 2021 was 138 days. Our publication on the Impact of Registrations Delays provides further information.
Due to the delay in registrations, we are still in the data collection phase for 2024. Because of this, analysis has not yet started, and we do not hold a figure for that reporting period.
The Dangerous Dogs Act holds information on restrictions around specific breeds and destruction of an animal where an owner has committed an offence.
Further information on breed specific legislation can be found on the RSPCA website.