MPs sign up to back our danger dogs campaign

Keighley MP Ann Cryer has been one of the first to sign our petition which calls for five key areas of the Dangerous Dogs Act to be changed.

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh has pledged to press ministers to tighten the legislation loopholes which has failed to protect people from attacks.

And Shipley MP Philip Davies described the campaign as a "good idea".

The Dangerous Dogs Act was hastily drawn-up after six-year-old Rukhsana Khan suffered terrible injuries when she was savaged by a pit bull terrier near her Bradford home in May 1991.

But the Telegraph & Argus is trying to persuade the Government that 15 years on the legislation is failing to protect the public as horrific dog attacks are common both in our district and around the country.

Our Curb the Danger Dogs Campaign is intended to persuade the Government to ensure that: l compulsory registration for all dogs is introduced, rather than the current system which limits it to certain breeds l all dogs are microchipped to allow ownership to be traced l mandatory life bans from dog ownership are introduced for anyone convicted of having a dangerous dog l a record of control orders is kept on every dog's registration l a specific offence of allowing a dog to stray is added to the Act with fixed penalty fines for owners to prevent dogs being out of control at any time.

Signing our petition, Mrs Cryer (Lab) said: "I cannot remember a time in an election campaign when one of my team was not bitten and had to get treated."

But she believed it was unlikely that our call for all dogs to be microchipped would get on to the statute book.

She said: "If you start tagging very small dogs that are not bigger than cats, then you could say we must start tagging cats.

"But that could be worked out in legislation quite easily. It would not take much to specify which very small dogs were exempt."

Mr Singh said he was aware of a number of dog attacks in his constituency.

The Labour MP said: "I will be pushing for changes in legislation when I return to the Commons next month.

"One of my constituents was recently bitten by a dog and I will be contacting ministers to see what can be done and any ideas are most welcome."

His move follows the attack on Sue Brown, 58, who was attacked by a rottweiler in Heaton Woods, causing horrific injuries to her right arm.

She was left bleeding in the park and fears the dog's owner will not be prosecuted as there is not enough evidence to link the dog to the owner.

Coincidentally, Mrs Brown was Rukhsana Khan's teacher.

Conservative MP Mr Davies said it was essential that any toughening-up of the Act was strictly enforced to make it effective. He said: "If all dogs are chipped and recorded I can see all honest and good dog owners doing this and the bad dog owners ignoring it, therefore costing the law-abiding people more money.

"We want the problem sorted. I need to believe it could be enforced and not simply penalise decent people."

In an exclusive interview in yesterday's T&A, Rukhsana, now 21, told how she was still bore physical and mental scars of the attack on her and continued to be terrified of dogs.

Pledging her support to our campaign she said: "The law was changed because of the attack on me 15 years ago, but today these attacks are still taking place and people are suffering terrible injuries.

"I have to live with the memory of the attack and the scars for the rest of my life. I do not want another child to have to go through what I did.

"The Government must prevent another attack by updating the law to make it tougher."

e-mail: newsdesk@bradford.newsquest.co.uk

HOW YOU CAN SIGN OUR PETITION

You can back our Curb the Danger Dogs Campaign by signing our petition, which will be submitted to the Home Secretary, John Reid.

We want to collect as many signatures as possible in the next month to show Mr Reid the strength of feeling in the district about the inadequacies of the Dangerous Dogs Act and to put pressure on him to better protect the public against dog attacks by acting on the changes to the law we have outlined on the petition.

You can support our campaign simply by adding your own name on the petition online at our publication's website www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk. Or you can print out the petition and ask family, friends and colleagues to sign as well. The more signatures we receive, the stronger our message.

But whatever you can do will add weight to our campaign and help to make it clear to Mr Reid the strength of public feeling regarding the desperate need to change the current law.

Remember, you need to return copies of the petition to the T&A (the address is at the foot of the form) by Thursday, October 12.

We will then submit all the forms we receive to the Home Office.

Click here to sign the petition on-line

Or click here to download a copy of the petition to print out