Injuries and Deaths: It’s Time to End the Use of Dogs in Policing

The time has come to phase out the use of dogs in policing. Following violent clashes across the UK this summer that left dogs used by police forces injured after they were burned or hit with bricks and other objects thrown by rioters, PETA sent a letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley. In the letter, we called for the use of dogs in London and beyond to be replaced with safer, modern methods of maintaining law and order that don’t subject animals to violence.

Dogs Die ‘On Duty’

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. Here are some recent cases:

Ike and Zoe, dogs used by Merseyside Police, were hit by bricks thrown by rioters.
A third dog, Quga – who was bitten and strangled by an offender while on duty in July – sustained further injuries when her back leg was burned during the riots.
In Staffordshire, a dog named Vixen sustained a gash on her right eye when a rioter hurled a brick at her.

In addition to the risk of serious injury while working, dogs used by the police are vulnerable because they often come second to other policing priorities. In 2019, a 5-year-old dog named Ivy died after being left in a swelteringly hot car for over two and a half hours with another dog while their handling officers underwent training.

‘Restocking’ of Dogs Adds to Homeless-Animal Crisis

Each year, hundreds of puppies are bred into existence to be used by the police. The West Midlands Police programme alone holds 40 females and produces about 100 puppies annually, but not all of them will graduate training and be used for work.

These animals, as well as dogs retired from the force who are unable to find a permanent home with their former handler, must then be rehomed – in competition with the over 100,000 homeless dogs in the UK at any given time.