Bloodied and badly injured after a dog attack – Oban postwoman Kirsteen Hobson.
By Bill Heaney
There were more than 7,000 attacks on people by dogs in Scotland last year, including at least one on a postwoman.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar raised this serious matter in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.
He said: “Confusion about the ban of XL Bully dogs in Scotland has brought dangerous dogs back into the headlines.
“Like so many issues, it is only when media pressure builds that SNP ministers respond – too often they act on headlines, rather than evidence.
“In the last Parliament, I sat on the Public Audit and Post Legislative Scrutiny Committee when it produced a report on the 2010 Control of Dogs Act.
“The cross-party committee called for a review of the law and the focus to be on irresponsible owners and breeders.
“The Government accepted the findings and committed to a review in 2019 but we are still waiting for action.
“In 2022 alone, victims were treated in Scotland’s hospitals a reported 7,600 times for injuries inflicted by dogs.
“These dogs were out of control, often mistreated or poorly trained by their owners.”
Mr Sarwar, pictured right, added: “Kirsteen Hobson is a Postwoman in Oban. In December, she was brutally attacked by a German Shepherd and sustained serious injuries to her face, leg and arm and needed specialist plastic surgery.
“She will be scarred for life, emotionally and physically. But nothing that the Government is announcing today would have helped Kirsteen.
“The Government promised five years ago to take action against irresponsible owners and breeders, not just an individual breed.
“Humza Yousaf was Justice Secretary when this Government promised to review the Control of Dogs Act and still nothing has happened.
“People like Kirsteen shouldn’t have to be fearful when they go to work and parents shouldn’t have to fear for their kids when they take them to the park.
“This Government has a responsibility to protect people, not just respond to bad headlines – but all too often that is the case.
“We saw it with infections at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, we saw it last week, and again today, with the Post Office Scandal and now we see it with XL Bully Dogs.
“This Government must commit to stronger powers for councils and the police and make it clear that the responsibility for dogs lies with owners and breeders.
“How many more lives must be irreversibly damaged by dangerous dog attacks before the SNP Government fixes the Control of Dogs Act?”