Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
It’s often said we’re a nation of dog lovers, with a poll last year claiming that one in three animal owners “prefer dogs to relatives”. Our connection with dogs goes back a long way, it’s thought that Britain’s love affair with keeping animals at home was popularised by Queen Victoria, who brought exotic dog breeds such as the Chow and Pekinese to the UK.
Even in the race to be the first to the Poles back in the 1900’s it’s widely believed that the reason the British failed was due to our sense of morality over dogs. Scott famously sent his dogs back to base camp with most of his men, leaving just the fated remaining five men to pull their own sledges (believing this to be nobler). However the Norwegian, Amundsen, who made it to the South Pole first used his dogs to pull the sledges and also killed dogs to feed the others and his men!
It is a sad fact however that not all dog owners have the knowhow of how to correctly look after a dog, or do and choose, for whatever reason, to ignore it. As we’ve all heard many times, there’s no such thing as a bad dog just bad dog owners. This doesn’t always mean cruelty or neglect.
It’s estimated that every year over 200,000 people in the UK are attacked by dogs, including 4,000 postal workers (Defra April 2012), although it’s hard to know how accurate this is as not all dog attacks are reported.
NHS Figures show...
- There were 17 deaths due to dog attacks in the UK between 2005 & 2013.
- More than 200,000 people a year are estimated to be bitten by dogs in England
- The annual cost to the NHS of treating these injuries is about £3 million.
- Hospital admissions due to dog bites were steadily rising from 2007 to 2012, but decreased in the period for 2012-13 from 6,580 to 6,302 hospital admissions.
To put it in perspective, there were 17.6m admissions to A&E departments in 2011-12. For every million A&E treatments, there were 366 hospital admissions for dog bites. To add a bit more context, the RSPCA said there were 8.5m dogs in the UK at the time - meaning there were around 75 serious dog bite admissions to hospital for every 100,000 dogs.
There are some simple steps to follow to minimise your risk of being attacked by a dog, such as standing still and avoiding eye contact if a dog is showing aggression by barking, growling or showing its teeth. This usually results in the dog losing interest or not seeing you as a threat, allowing you to slowly move away from the animal. Never run, dogs like to chase things and so this would probably make the situation worse. As mentioned above, you should not leave a child with a dog unsupervised, even if the dog has never bitten anyone before. The vast majority of dog bites are by first time offenders.
As well as children, there are certain professions that are more susceptible to being attacked by a dog; especially if your job means you have access to someone else’s home. Examples of these include, but are not limited to; delivering post and parcels, working as a carer or home-help, checking services such as gas, electricity or water or carrying out maintenance or repairs. If you’ve been bitten by a dog whilst at work in any circumstance, then you may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.
What To Do if You Are Involved in a Dog Attack
- Report the incident to the Police. Even if it’s not severe, the next person may not be so lucky. And remember to get the crime/accident reference number
- Try your best to identify the owner and provide the address (& if they have household or pet insurance that covers members of public injured by the dog)
- Obtain the contact details of all witnesses & get photographs of the injury/scarring.
- If the accident occurred whilst at work then make sure you report the accident to your manager and enter it into accident book.
- Keep a record (including receipts) of all your expenses, these may include:
- Travelling expenses to and from the hospital /GP
- Prescription charges & over the counter medication
- Loss of earnings
- Any other losses incurred as a direct result of the dog bite
We Can Help
If you, or a family member, have suffered from the result of a dog bite in the last 3 years then you may be entitled to make a claim for personal injury compensation. Our friendly specialist advisors can talk to you about your situation and see if you have a valid compensation claim. There is no charge for this service and you are under no obligation to claim with us.
If You Have a Genuine Claim, Contact a Genuine Company
May I Claim, is a trading name of R Costings Limited and our CRM number is 25770
If you’ve had an accident that wasn’t your fault and suffered an injury - you can trust us to handle your claim professionally.
Call us now on 0800 756 7774 and talk to us to find out if you have a claim - or fill in our Quick Claim form (on the right of this page).
http://info.mayiclaim.co.uk/personal_injury_compensation_claim_news/bid/335387/Mans-Best-Friend-Over-6000-UK-Injuries-from-Dog-Attacks-Each-Year Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.