Boris: We must stop thugs using dogs as weapons

BORIS Johnson is to draw up a plan to stop dangerous dogs being used as weapons, he announced today.

The Mayor said he was concerned by the rise in the number of dogs being seized by police or abandoned by their owners.

Mr Johnson was speaking at the Mayor's Question Time, addressing a question from Tory Assembly member Richard Tracey who called for particular attention to be paid to parks where young children could be vulnerable to attacks.

The Mayor said it would be a "very good idea" to have a dangerous dogs plan.

He added: "This is something that is very worrying. People buy these dogs as puppies of breeds that tend to have a ferocious reputation and then abandon them when they get older.

"It is pretty sad from an animal welfare point of view and should be strongly discouraged.

"It's something that should be raised up the political agenda because it is scary and it is intimidating and it is sad for the dogs themselves.

"I think it's something on which we could all work together that would be ideally suited to be taken up as a city charter process along with London councils. "

Mr Johnson said the latest figures suggested around 800 dogs will have been seized by police by the end of the financial year next April, compared with 481 in the last financial year and 173 in 2006 to 2007.

He said the problem meant police officers were being sent on training courses to help them deal with the dogs.

Deputy Mayor for Policing, Kit Malthouse, called for part of the action plan to address the £1.35million cost to police of keeping the dogs in kennels before magistrates decide whether or not they should be destroyed. He called for a "more swift disposal" programme in the courts.

The Assembly passed the motion put forward by Labour member Val Shawcross, which called on the Mayor to work with the Metropolitan Police and London's borough councils to tackle the use of animals as weapons.

Last month concert pianist Mary Duella was mauled by two pit bull terriers and her baby was knocked to the ground in his pram.

The 35-year-old was left with deep wounds to her arm and leg and had to have a skin graft. She now faces permanent scarring.

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act, certain breeds of dogs such as pit bull terriers are illegal.