Liable to £5k fine and jail if attack dogs were proven Pit Bulls

Nine-year-old Danielle McAllister was attacked by what appeared two Pit Bull type terriers close to her Trench Road home in the Waterside area of Londonderry on September 20.

The incident was brought up during a briefing of the Stormont Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development when DARD officials provided evidence on a new Dog (Amendment) Bill designed to tighten dog control legislation.

DARD official Colette McMaster said the mauling incident in Londonderry was precisely the sort of incident the new legislation would tackle.

During her briefing she initially referred to the incident commenting: "Of course, we also note that a girl was attacked by two dogs yesterday. That is certainly the sort of incident that we hope to deal with through the Dogs (Amendment) Bill and existing dog controls."

Distraction

But Sinn Fin MLA Francie Molloy took issue with this saying the Londonderry dog attack was a distraction from the bill.

"Although the dog attack on the young girl in Derry last night is certainly regrettable, the Department's introduction of it might be seen as trying to influence the Committee's decisions, so it is regrettable that that was done," he said.

"At this stage, there has been no indication of the breed of dog involved or whether it was licensed or microchipped, so the case is not relevant to this discussion. It has been introduced as a distraction."

Ms McMaster went on to respond to this rebuttal and revealed that whilst the owner of the dogs would be liable to a 5,000 fine or a jail sentence if they were proven to be Pit Bulls under current legislation the proposed new law will deal more tightly with dogs of non-banned breeds.

Scenarios

She explained: "Your first point concerned yesterday's attack. That involves one of two scenarios. If the dog is identified as a pit bull terrier type, the owner is liable to a fine of up to 5,000 and a jail sentence.

"The Dogs (Amendment) Bill continues to prohibit those dogs, and it is designed to improve the resources available to deal with breaches of that ban, along with other dog controls.

"When the Bill is enacted, even in respect of dogs that are not a banned breed, the strict controls attached to dog licensing will assist in pre-empting dangerous behaviour before attacks happen.

"The penalty for failing to comply with those control conditions will be a fine of up to 2,500. Therefore, there are elements of the Bill that will help to deal with dog attacks such as the one that we mentioned."