Dogs and Cats

 Thought you mind find this letter from the Dog and Cat  Management Board interesting?

Each year the Dog and Cat Management Board collates statistics, conducts surveys and reviews research from Australia and around the world to help inform strategies and policy advice for South Australia’s dog and cat management.

Over the last two years, the Board has paid particular attention to researching various management interventions that can reduce the risk of dog attacks in our community.

Sadly, there have been 19 dog attack related incidents reported in the media in the last six months ranging from a small boy losing his nose, to an elderly lady being rushed at by a dog while walking her own dog, falling and breaking her arm.

In addition to media reports, the Dog and Cat Management Board Annual Report for the period 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012* indicates:

• 230 people have been admitted to hospital for dog attack related injury
• 673 days of hospital time have been used by dog attack patients
• Children aged 0-9 at the highest rate of admission for dog bite related injury representing 27% of total admissions.

(* Dog and Cat Management Board Annual Report 1 July 2011 to 30 June 2012 - refer www.dogandcatboard.com.au)

While those figures are alarming, Omnibus surveys further indicate that at least 80% of injury caused by dogs goes unreported, consequently actual injury in the three year period surveyed is estimated to afflict 2.1% of the population. That’s approximately 11,500 South Australian’s a year.

The Board considers dog bite injury to be a human health issue and preventative interventions have been the focus of the Board’s research.

We thought that you would be interested in some of the findings and enclose a summary of our research titled Mitigating the risk of dog related injury in our community for your review.

If you would like to learn more about any of the research, policy or interventions included within the executive summary, contact the Dog and Cat Management Board on (08) 8124 4962 or at dcmb@sa.gov.au.

I can send you the full paper if you would like, just let me know.