Met urged to phase out police dogs after wave of injuries during summer riots

29 September 2024, 14:56

Police dogs should be phased out after animals were “burned” and “hit with bricks” during the far-right riots that swept the UK this summer, Peta has told the Metropolitan Police commissioner

The animal rights group called for "safer, modern policing technology" to replace the canines, pointing out that dogs do not get to choose to serve in the police force and “put their lives on the line."

This comes after several dogs were injured in far-right riots that erupted across the UK this summer in the wake of the killing of three young girls in Southport.

Merseyside Police dogs Ike and Zoe were "hit by bricks thrown by the unruly crowd" in Southport, Peta wrote in the letter to Sir Mark Rowley this week.

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Another pup, named Quga, was bitten and strangled while on duty in July and later burned on the back leg during the riots, the group said.

In Staffordshire, a dog called Vixen "sustained a gash on her right eye when a rioter hurled a brick at her", it added.

The letter read: "Over the years, we have also read reports of dogs who have been punched or kicked or whose eyes have been gouged during altercations.

"The risk of injury while working, dogs used by the police are vulnerable because too often their wellbeing comes second to other priorities.

"In June 2019, two dogs were left in a hot car for over two and a half hours while their handling officers underwent training, resulting in the collapse and death of a five-year-old Belgian Malinois named Ivy."

Hundreds of puppies are bred for the police force every year, but not all dogs end up being put to work.

Northumbria Police claims on its website that many under 18 months old have "health conditions or behaviour needs" that prevent them from completing training, and they may "simply be better suited to life as a family pet with people who can provide the time, care and commitment they need".

Peta's vice president of programmes, Elisa Allen, said: "Dogs in Britain's police forces never signed up to risk their lives but are being battered on the front lines of riots and left to bake to death in hot cars.

"Peta is urging the Metropolitan Police to end the use of dogs and adopt modern methods of maintaining law and order that don't subject animals to a lifetime of violence."