Spanish Dangerous Animals Act: Effect on the Epidemiology of Dog Bites

Rosado, B. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; García-Belenguer,S. (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; León,M. ; Palacio,J. (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: The effectiveness and suitability of legislation regarding the issue of dangerous dogs, especially those targeting so-called ‘‘dangerous breeds’’ (DB), have been the object of a lot of criticism.
However, the shortage of scientific studies in this field makes an objective assessment of the impact of current legislation difficult. In the present study, dog bite-related incidents from Arago´n (Spain)
were analyzed for a 10-year periods (1995 to 2004). With the aim of assessing the impact of the Spanish Dangerous Animals Act on the epidemiology of dog bites, data from the non-legislated (1995 to
1999) and the legislated period (2000 to 2004) were compared in 2 different areas (low- and high-pop ulated areas). According to the results, the population density did exert a significant effect on the in-
cidence of dog bites, whereas the legislation in force did not. Popular breeds such as the German shepherd and crossbreed dogs accounted for the great majority of the incidents during the 2 periods
of study. Specifically, the German shepherd proved to be over-represented significantly among the canine population. Dogs in the dangerous breeds list, on the other hand, were involved in a small pro-
portion of the incidents both before and after the introduction of legislation. The present results suggest that the implementation of the Spanish legislation exerted little impact on the epidemiology of dog
bites. Besides the scarce effectiveness, the results suggest that the criteria to regulate only so-called DB were unsuitable and unjustified. It is hoped that this study will be helpful in the elaboration of
future regulation measures in this matter.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2007.07.010

Año: 2007

Publicado en: Journal of Veterinary Behavior 2, 5 (2007), 166-174
ISSN: 1558-7878

Tipo y forma: Article (PostPrint)

Área (Departamento): Área Medicina y Cirugía Animal (Dpto. Patología Animal)