Wavertree MP Luciana Berger has discosvered that in the last year Merseyside Police siezed 447 dogs at a cost of £298,600. This cost has been revealed just weeks after it was announced that the number of dog bites requiring hospital treatment has increased in Liverpool with 142 people being admitted to hospital between May 2010 and April 2011 compared to 111 the year before. The issue of dangerous dogs is of particular concern to Mrs Berger as four year old John Paul Masset who was killed by a dangerous dog was from her ward. Another dog victim Five year old Ellie Lawrenson was from nearby St Helens. Mrs Berger told the Maghull and Aintree Star "It's costing taxpayers in Merseyside hundreds of thousands of punds to kennel dogs which should never have been on our streets. At a time when Government cuts are taking police off our streets, this is cash which we desperately need to spend on frontline policing but can't." The Department of Environmental and Rural Affairs oversaw a consultation for the Labour government in March 2010 but their response is still awaited. It is thought to be due early in the new year.
Merseyside taxpayers pay £300,000 a year to kennel dangerous dogs
