Report gives Carolina's father hope tougher laws on way

By CATHERINE MASTERS

The father of Carolina Anderson was briefed on an interim Government report into dog control yesterday and emerged feeling dog laws will be toughened.

John Anderson met Local Government Minister Chris Carter as seven-year-old Carolina lay in a Kidz First Hospital bed with yet another eye infection.

Carolina's right eye was ripped almost out of its socket during the attack in Coxs Bay Reserve in Westmere.

She has spent the week at Kidz First and is being transferred to the Starship children's hospital where she will go on an intravenous drip.

The consequences of the attack have been emotionally draining - it is "a pretty tough road," said Mr Anderson.

The report shows that topping the list of difficulties encountered by councils regarding dog control are the attitudes of dog owners, especially the failure to register dogs.

"Many councils attributed the inappropriate behaviour of some owners to a failure to recognise that all dogs are inherently dangerous animals," says the report.

Next was council inability to prevent problems by entering properties and seizing dogs.

Councils were also dissatisfied with delays in the judicial process and the level of penalties.

They generally believed the Dog Control Act was inadequate when it came to seizing dangerous dogs.

But they were divided over whether it had adequate power to prevent dangerous dog incidents and prevent a repetition of incidents involving the same owner.

The report says the total number of dog attacks seems to have declined since 1999-2000.

In the five years up to 2000, 1722 people were treated in public hospitals for bites - 39 per cent were aged under 10 and 60 per cent were males.

It points out difficulties councils have identifying breeds of dogs involved in attacks but says the breeds most commonly identified are: staffordshire bull terriers, german shepherds, labradors, bull terriers, rottweilers, and pit bull terriers.

It also says some councils had difficulty providing the statistical information required for the survey.

Mr Carter says the number of dog attacks remained unacceptably high.

"Clearly there are some problems with dog control that must be resolved."