The killing of a small girl by a pet dog in Leicestershire a couple of days ago is a horrible reminder of the dangers which these animals can present. Over recent years, thousands of people have been attacked and injured by dogs and as many as a dozen or so children have been killed; why do we not react as we do against other similar dangers ?
Dogs used to be kept not as 'pets' but as working animals. Their owners did not spend silly, and sometimes obscene, amounts of money on their food, grooming, kennelling and even clothing, and the animals were only kept for their usefulness - keeping down assorted vermin, for instance. Today and in total contrast, the vast majority of dogs are welcomed into their owners homes as a member of the family, being fussed over in ways that are full of danger.
Dogs are instinctive animals and respond as such to perceived threats, often by assuming aggressive postures and attacking the threat. That such 'threats' can be small children pulling their 'pets'' tails or appearing suddenly from around corners seems to escape many people until the worst happens. Added to this, dogs are repositories of disease and yet their owners allow themselves, and their children, to be climbed over and licked repeatedly, often around the face. Dogs leave their faeces anywhere and everywhere and even though many owners now retrieve these in little plastic bags, they will always leave some small element behind; the bacteria so released into the environment are a threat to us all, children in particular.
It's reported that there are some 9 million of these dirty and potentially dangerous animals at large in our country. While their owners often pay out large amounts to maintain them, they pay nothing to the state for the armies of workers whose jobs it is to clear up their mess and empty the bins in which the better owners deposit their collections of faeces. They pay nothing for the mess and damage sometimes inflicted on others or for the demand placed on the NHS; they pay no licence fee and are not required to have insurance.
Surely it is now time for the introduction of new laws to govern the keeping of animals as pets, starting with dogs. Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, both parts of the United Kingdom, have licensing systems and many countries require owners to register their ownership in some way in order to keep a dog legally - Eire, the USA, Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand amongst others. In this country, a licence and micro-chipping fee of, say, £30 a year (equivalent to less than 9p per day) would raise over a quarter of a billion pounds to be put towards the costs of cleaning up after these animals. Requiring owners to carry insurance against the possibility of their animals attacking others would ensure that victims received compensation and the NHS was paid for it's services.
Why do we tolerate finding piles of dog faeces in the street or in our parks and green spaces ? Why do we tolerate being snapped at by these aggressive animals ? It's time we stopped being so romantic about them and started being much more realistic and practical.
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