FOI 456034

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 456034

I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 3rd February 2026.  Please find below the response to your request:

I would like to kindly request annual totals from 2010-2025 for the following information and statistics:

1. The number of dog bites from dogs owned by members of the public
2. The number of Level 3 (Dunbar Scale) injuries within West Mercia police force area
3. The number of Level 4 (Dunbar Scale) injuries within West Mercia police force area
4. The number of Level 5 (Dunbar Scale) injuries within West Mercia police force area
5. The number of deaths occurring from dog bites within West Mercia police force area
6. The breeds of the offending dogs from the total in request 1 if reported
7. How many dogs were seized following a dog bite incident

Reply

Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.

S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”.  For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.

The information you have requested regarding How many dogs were seized following a dog bite incident is not available in a readily retrievable format.  The data base used is not searchable and covers all types of dogs in kennels including stray, prisoner property, welfare etc. Over 2900 records would need to be manually reviewed. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours. We also do not record the level of injury sustained during these offences or the breeds of the dogs involved in a separate field.  If this information was recorded it would be recorded within the incident summary.  To read all the incident summaries would take in excess of 18 hours.

In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.

However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide some of the information requested as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests

information.

Caveat: Under Management Of Police Information Guidance data may be deleted off our systems after 6 years.  Data recorded more than 6 years ago cannot be assessed for its accuracy or completeness.  I have therefore provided data which was created within the last 6 years, specifically from 01/01/2020 not from 01/01/2010 as requested.

The applicant has requested information regarding “dog bites”.  There is no specific offence title or marker to denote that a dog attack consisted of a dog bite or something else (e.g. scratching/barking etc).  To answer the question the total number of dog attacks has been provided.  The requestor has mentioned the Dunbar Scale, the lowest level of injury on this scale is “aggressive behaviour without contact”.   The search therefore includes both offences where injuries were sustained and offences where no injury was sustained.