FOI 0125-2024/25- Dog attack fatalities

Request:

Q1. The purpose of this request is to obtain information in relation to dogs that attacked humans where the attack resulted in a human fatality. I am requesting information for the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. If your force has not dealt with any fatal dog attacks in the years listed please reply to say that you hold no relevant information and that will be an end to this request.

The purpose of the request is to obtain information about the dog(s) involved in the attacks. I do not require any information that might identify the victim, any police officers involved in the incident, any veterinarian or any other individual linked in anyway with the incident.

I will only require information in relation to the owner of the dog(s) and/or the person in possession/responsible for the dog at the time of the attack if a there has been a criminal conviction.

I do not need the exact date of the incident or the location of the incident. For my purposes it is sufficient to establish in which Constabulary the incident occurred and the year it occurred.

Q2. The year in which the attack took place

Q3. Was the dog(s) microchipped? If the answer to this question is no please go to question 4.

Q4. In relation to dogs that were microchipped please confirm

• If the chip had been recorded on a recognised database and the name of that database
• Was the name of the person who implanted the chip recorded on the database? For clarification I do not need to know the name of the person. I am asking the question to establish if you were able to identify who implanted the chip in the dog.
• If the chip had been registered to the breeder of the dog prior to sale. If the dog had been registered to the breeder was the breeder a licensed or unlicensed breeder?
• If the chip had been registered to the person who first purchased the dog
• If the chip was re-registered to another person (s). If there was any re-registering please give the date(s) on which the chip was re-registered. Re-registering means the dog was registered in the name of a new keeper/owner and does not refer to the same keeper/owner updating their details. Again, I am not asking for any personal information. The point of the question is to establish if a full record of the ownership/ transfer of ownership was kept and was up to date.
• Was the dog’s date of birth recorded, if so what age was the dog at the date of the attack.
• If the dog was imported and, if it was, where it was imported from
• The gender of the dog
• Was the dog’s colour recorded, if so what was it
• Was the dog’s breed or crossbreed type recorded, if so what was it

Q5. Following the attack was the dog(s)

• Shot by police at the scene
• Put to sleep by a veterinarian at the scene
• Removed to a third party location and put to sleep
• With the consent of the owner/keeper
• By Order of the Court
• If the dog was not put to sleep what happened to it

Q6. Was the dog imported into the U.K? I am asking this question in addition to the question about importation at 3 above because the dog may not have been microchipped or the microchip might not have been correctly recorded as being registered to a U.K. database after importation. Potentially a dog imported illegally.

Q7. If a necropsy or other physical examination (before or after death) of the dog took place please provide me with a copy of the relevant report(s)/ paper(s). I appreciate it will be necessary to redact any report(s)/ paper(s).  Alternatively, please provide a summary of the report to include (if recorded)

• Age of the dog
• Gender of the dog
• Breed, crossbreed or type of dog
• Weight of the dog
• Height of the dog
• Length of the dog
• If it’s ears had been cropped
• If it’s tail had been docked
• Any injuries that would be considered indicative of cruelty
• Any injuries that would be considered indicative of dog fighting
• The overall condition of the dog and any concerns it had been neglected and/or was malnourished
• Any evidence that drugs (veterinary or otherwise but not including drugs administered for euthanasia or treatment of the dog whilst in police custody) had been administered to the dog

Q8. If there has been a criminal conviction in relation to the incident please confirm

• The name of the person(s) convicted
• The offences convicted of
• The sentence handed down

This is a generic request made to all police forces in England and Wales. I appreciate that each force may have recorded information in a different way. It may be that the information available will differ from dog to dog and I accept you may not be able to provide all the information requested for every incident as you may not hold it. Please provide as much information as you can.

Response: 

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. 

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police. 

Decision

The information you have requested is published on the North Yorkshire Police website under the following link:

FOI Fatal Dog Attacks (1141-2023/24) | North Yorkshire Police

I have therefore decided to exempt providing you with a response to questions 1 - 8 pursuant to Section 21 Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

Between the dates 06 February 2024 to 01 May 2024, there were zero results for fatal dog attacks recorded by North Yorkshire Police.

Section 17 of the Act requires North Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 21 – Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means

Section 21 is an absolute class based exemption and I am not required to consider the harm or public interest when applying this exemption.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice in response to your request.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.