Figures revealing that no dog control orders were issued in Angus over two years have been labelled “shameful” by a leading campaigner.
It has emerged the county was one of fewer than 10 Scots councils that did not issue any dog control notices from February 2011 to February 2013.
The figures, released to the Scottish Conservatives, also disclosed that the number of investigations into dangerous dogs had doubled across the country in 2012-13.
But while Fife’s control order tally quadrupled in 12 months, Angus did not issue a single order under powers that allow authorities to take action against owners whose animals are not being kept under control or are causing alarm.
Council chiefs have said they deal with each dog complaint case on its own merits, and have confirmed two notices have been issued since the period covered by the tatistics.
Ian Robb of Angus Dogs Rescue has been campaigning for tighter controls to be imposed following an explosion in the indiscriminate breeding of Staffordshire bull terriers and he said the Angus situation was disappointing.
The data, released in an answer to a parliamentary question lodged by North East MSP Nanette Milne did, however, reveal that investigations carried out in Angus had risen from 27 in 2011-12 to 80 in 2012-13.
Mr Robb said: “These statistics for Angus are hugely discouraging for charities like ourselves and the Scottish SPCA and, to be honest, it’s shameful that not a single dog control order was imposed over that time.”
He has already taken his campaign to the Scottish parliament and welcomed Ms Milne to Angus last year to see the work of the charity.
“At the end of the day I am now beginning to get somewhere and I will not give up on this, but it has been a real struggle. I feel a lot of the higher level politicians are surrounded by civil servants who are not interested in what’s happening out there, and yet still we have these dog attack incidents happening all the time.”
Mr Robb added: “It’s quite sad, when you think of the number of dog attacks that The Courier has reported, that people are not being successfully prosecuted under the Dangerous Dogs Act and that no control orders are being issued. People are getting away with a police warning and that does not get the message out.
“Unfortunately the criminal element would probably ignore control orders, but that does not mean that they should not be imposed.
“These figures were not a surprise to me, but that does not mean they are any easier to accept.”
A council spokesperson said: “The council responds to all complaints received about dog control, each case is assessed individually and the appropriate action taken.
“Each of the complaints received between February 2011 and February 2013 were investigated, but none were found to warrant the issuing of a dog control notice.
“Since then two control notices have been issued as the complaints made in those instances merited that course of action.
“Our process for dealing with dog control complaints is to contact the owner if we find that the dog was out of control we may issue a dog control notice but in most instances we speak to the owner about the reported issue and offer dog control advice. Owners are informed that further complaints may result in a control notice being issued.
“In addition Police Scotland have powers under the Dangerous Dog Act to act on reports about any dog believed to be dangerous. To report a dog control complaint to the council please call our customer service team ACCESSLine on 08452 777 778.”