![](https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/3AijacentBN9GedHCvcASxG/3bed61d9-cfe4-4493-bb56-e085eb0a1309.jpg/r99_0_2172_1760_w1200_h972_fmax.jpg)
American Staffordshire terriers and pit bulls should be "bred out of existence", Dog Rescue Newcastle president Sue Barker says.
A coronial inquest heard on Monday that a family dog killed a baby at Kariong on the Central Coast in July 2021.
Ms Barker said there were "dog attacks all the time", with the Central Coast among the worst areas in the state for the offence.
NSW government data showed the number of people attacked by dogs last year included: Central Coast [193], Newcastle [37], Lake Macquarie [103], Maitland [113], Port Stephens [32] and Cessnock [29].
A dog attack can include any incident where a dog rushes at, attacks, bites, harasses or chases any person or animal other than vermin, whether or not an injury occurs.
However, the data showed dog attacks in NSW last year caused one death, with 283 people being hospitalised, 665 requiring medical treatment and 819 suffering minor injuries.
Also revealed in the data were 797 incidents of American Staffordshire terrier attacks in NSW last year. This breed was the worst offender for attacks by far.
"There's no place in society for these dogs because they can turn," Ms Barker said.
Concerns have repeatedly been raised about people registering pit bulls as American Staffordshire terriers.
Nonetheless, Ms Barker said these breeds should all be "desexed and bred out of existence".
"I can't tell the difference between an American staffie and a pit bull. They're all dangerous dogs as far as I'm concerned," she said.
"They have the capacity to be killers."
The five-week-old baby killed at Kariong in 2021 had been in the arms of its mother, who was asleep.
The father had bought the dog from a breeder advertising American Staffordshire terriers on Gumtree.
Concerns were raised before the baby's death that the dog was an American pit bull cross-breed.
The dog was microchipped in 2016 and recorded as an American Staffordshire terrier.
A month before the baby's death, Central Coast Council rangers received a report that the dog had killed a cocker spaniel from a neighbouring property.
The council issued the owners a notice that it would declare the animal a restricted breed and impose control measures.
The owners asked for more time to respond.
Ms Barker said the dog "should have been euthanised straight away after it killed the dog".
As well as American Staffordshire terriers and pit bulls, she said hunting and pigging dogs should not be in society.
Most of these dog types often "go to the wrong owners - macho idiots".
"Councils aren't proactive enough about making people desex and register their animals.
"They're much stricter in Queensland."
Ms Barker had been involved in dog rescue since the mid 1980s.
"Decades ago when I did rescue, we didn't have any of these problems. We didn't have dog attacks," she said.
"You might have had a blue cattle dog nipping the back of a leg, but none of these vicious attacks."
In NSW, restricted dogs are listed as American pit bull terrier or pit bull terrier; Japanese tosa; Argentinian fighting dog and Brazilian fighting dog.