- 02/07/2015
- Posted by: Joyce Watson MS
- Category: Feature
Joyce Watson AM is backing Royal Mail’s Dog Awareness Week (29 June – 4 July).
The Mid and West AM helped launch the campaign at the National Assembly for Wales on Wednesday (1 July). She said:
“I am pleased to support Royal Mail’s Dog Awareness Week. I have been a dog owner for many years and I know how territorial some can be. I was bitten a few years ago, delivering election leaflets; postmen and women face that risk every day.”
According to Royal Mail, dog attacks on postal workers have fallen by 10% in the past year to just under 3,000.
Following a change in the law last May, prosecutions for dog attacks have increased; court cases involving dog attacks went up by 62% in the six months to December 2014, Royal Mail said.
The changes to the Dangerous Dogs Act mean dog owners are prosecuted if their animal attacks a person in their home or on private property, unless they are trespassing. The maximum prison sentence for an offense also went up from two to five years.
Mrs Watson added:
“The new law provides more protection and greater deterrents, but we must continue to promote the message that dog owners must allow workers like postmen and women to carry out their job safely.”