Armed police officers have shot and killed an “out-of-control” dog after a man was found with “serious injuries” at a house in Derby.
A man has also been arrested in connection with the incident at a property in Cameron Road on Saturday morning.
Derbyshire Police have closed off parts of Cameron Road and nearby Brunswick Street.
“A dog at the address that was presenting a risk to officers and the public was shot and killed by firearms officers,” the force said in a statement.
Police officers remain at the property and scene is in place, the force said. It gave no update on the man’s injuries or whether he had been taken to hospital.
“There is no ongoing risk to the public and officers will remain in the area as the investigation into the incident continues,” police said.
It comes just days after six people, including one elderly man, were hospitalised when two dogs began attacking people near a primary school in Birmingham, with pupils reportedly kept inside for an hour until the canines were brought under control and taken to secure kennels.
A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a dog dangerously out of control, West Midlands Police said.
Just two weeks prior, 17 dogs were seized by police and three people arrested in Carrington after a six-year-old girl was seriously injured in a dog attack, Greater Manchester Police said.
Despite the UK’s canine population only increasing by 15 per cent since 2018, the number of dog attacks has risen by more than double that proportion, rising from 16,000 in 2018 to 22,000 last year, according to the BBC.
But the recent rise merely represents the latter end of a stark trend of rising dog attacks in recent decades, including those which are fatal or require hospitalisation.
Some 8,389 of the victims of such attacks in 2018 were hospitalised by their injuries – a huge increase on the 3,395 such admissions in 2002.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 15 people were killed by canines in the decade up to the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act. By contrast, in the 10 years to 2022, there were at least 32 such deaths.
Following Saturday’s attack, Cameron Road was closed from the junction with St Thomas Road and close to the junction with Duncan Road, while Brunswick Street was shut from the junction of Havelock Road and Sutherland Road.
