A PETITION calling on the government to toughen new dog law proposals has been circulated by the Hyndburn Labour group.

The petition, available to sign at MP Graham Jones’ Accrington office on Abbey Street, claims that current proposals on dangerous dogs do not go far enough.

It says that seven children and two adults have been killed by dogs since 2006 and that 6,000 admissions to hospital are caused by dog attacks each year, leaving many victims scarred for life.

The petition which Mr Jones wants his Accrington and Haslingden constituents to sign, asks the government to amend the law to cover attacks on people and animals on private property and also to enforce dog control orders and promote responsible dog ownership. Last month, a district judge sitting at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court declined to make a destruction order on a Jack Russell terrier which left a 77-year-old Hyndburn woman with a gaping wound after it attacked her following escaping a garden.