New law on dog attacks introduced

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New laws to protect postal workers from dog attacks come into force this Monday.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) launched a Practitioners Manual for dealing with irresponsible dog ownership today (Friday), which has been welcomed by the CWU.

The manual gives practical advice to the police and local authorities about what they are now legally allowed to demand from reckless dog owners.
Billy Hayes 2010 "The Practitioners Manual that Defra has released today is welcome as it clearly sets out what powers those in authority have and what demands they can make of irresponsible dog owners," said Billy Hayes.

The new Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which received Royal Assent earlier this year, will help prevent the thousands of dog attacks which take place each year.

Bite Back From Monday, irresponsible dog owners can now be made by law enforcement to attend dog training classes, muzzle their pet or get their dog microchipped.

Billy paid tribute to the CWU's Bite Back campaign: "We have fought hard to get the law tightened because of the disproportionate number of postal workers who are attacked by dogs. Around 6,300 postal workers have been attacked by dogs since 2012 for simply doing their jobs."

He continued: "Reckless dog owners must be aware that it's now a criminal offence if their dog attacks the postman or woman on private property."
Read about the CWU's Bite Back campaign for more information and visit the Defra website to download the practitioners manual.