High praise has been heaped on the CWU Bite-Back campaign against dangerous dogs amid rising hopes that new legislation in Wales could prove the spearhead for further strengthening the law in favour of victims of dog bites across the UK.
Speakers at a Labour Party fringe meeting in Brighton last night were united in the belief that the current level of protection and legal redress for dog bite victims would never have come about had it not been for the relentless campaigning carried out by the CWU over many years.
Dave Joyce
That work was led from the outset by CWU national health, safety and environment officer Dave Joyce, yet - while the 2013 legislation covering England and Wales, which mirrors similar provisions in Scotland and Northern Ireland, afford previously absent legal recourse to people bitten by dogs on private property - the CWU has consistently argued that the current laws do not go far enough.
One of the key omissions, the union believes, is that the current legislation does not include the provision of sufficiently robust Dog Control Notices that - if properly issued and enforced - could lead to action against problem dogs and owners before a serious incident occurs with all the suffering that entails to innocent victims.
L-R Julie Morgan, Dilwar Ali and Dave Joyce
One of the organisers of the 'Caring4K9s' (Caring for Canines) fringe meeting in Brighton last night was Cardiff's deputy lord mayor, Cllr Dilwar Ali, whose son suffered horrific injuries in a dog attack that shocked the nation in 2011.
Then aged just six, Erfan Ali, sustained horrific injuries to his face requiring 190 stitches, and further reconstructive treatment to a badly bitten hand, after he was attacked in his own garden by a neighbour's dog which broke down a fence before mauling the child.
Dilwar explains: "Erfan was in the garden helping his mum get the washing in when the dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, broke down the fence and came into our own garden."
Five years later Erfan still faces years of treatment on account of the surgery and follow-up operations he required. As well as the physical scars he has been left with a huge mistrust and fear of animals in general.
While the dog that attacked him was immediately put down, and the owner subsequently jailed for four months and banned from dog ownership for 10 years, Dilwar's family have not received a penny in compensation for their Erfan's injury or an ordeal that traumatised the entire family so much that they felt they had no option but to move house when the case was coming to court.
Yet what haunts Dilwar the most is that he'd almost foreseen the hazard that was to transform his family's life - complaining several times to an unreceptive dog owner whose animal was clearly out of control.
"My main aim now is to protect other families so they don't have to go through the same as we did," he said. "If only we had dog control notices we could handle problems easier and quicker because if a dog is out of control we could serve a notice...that has to be the way forward."
One of the champions for such Dog Control Notices is Welsh Assembly Member Julie Morgan (Labour, Cardiff North) who became aware of the chronic need to be able to act before tragedy strikes when the Ali family's shocking case unfolded in her constituency.
"I hope Wales takes the lead now," she told the CWU - explaining that, while Dog Control Notices had formed part of the proposed by the Welsh Government prior to it being superseded by the current dog laws covering England and Wales that stemmed from Westminster, she was convinced the Welsh Bill, as originally proposed, would have afforded better protection to the public as it had provided that mechanism to "try to prevent these things from happening rather than simply stepping in after the event."
Dave Joyce, on behalf of the CWU, agrees. "This is all about getting the Welsh government to take on board the role of adding to the UK legislation," he explains.
"There's a clear opportunity there as Wales was considering its own Bill before the current legislation covering England and Wales legislation was taken forward - but, sadly, they then suspended their own Bill an it was subsequenty withdrawn.
"All of the groups that were campaigning previously on a UK front, as well as Wales, have decided to press Wales to pick up the reins once again and look at areas where they can build on and improve the UK legislation.
"What we're hoping for now is that they introduce a Bill that will supplement the Westminster legislation, add to it and improve it.
"We'll then be able to use that as a springboard to put more pressure on Westminster.
The early signals are looking positive, not least in in that the Welsh Government has already asked RSPCA Cymru to conduct a review with the aim of raising awareness of the responsibilities of owing a dog, with that work particularly focussed on the areas of Wales with higher numbers of dog attacks.
Speaking at the Caring4K9s event in Brighton, the Welsh Government Minister for Natural Resources, Carl Sargeant received enthusiastic applause from the Ali family when he said: "We have an opportunity to showcase something very special that we can do in Wales. Maybe it is something we should think about for our manifesto...so it's a bit of a case of 'watch this space'."