Dear Sir,

Having survived the near-death experience of an attack by a huge pitbull, I have kept track of how this has become a growing problem both here in Bermuda and abroad.

As has happened in numerous places elsewhere, it is only a matter of time in Bermuda before someone gets beyond serious injury and is mauled to death by one of these dogs.

Several new approaches should be urgently given full consideration here in Bermuda and put in place:

• A muzzle should be mandatory for such dogs when taken out in public. This would have prevented a recent attack on South Shore in Warwick, where one of these dogs leapt from a passing car to do an attack on a pedestrian walking his friendly pet on a leash

• An outright ban, in practice, could be achieved quite humanely if all such dangerous dogs that are licensed had to be neutered and then allowed to live out their natural lives. This would allow the problem to humanely phase out over a reasonably short time

• In the meantime, serious third-party insurance coverage should be immediately made a requirement for ownership of such dogs, so that very full coverage is in place in the hands of each owner — in advance — ready to pay out for death and injury, and other damage that these dangerous dogs cause to people, their pets and property. This includes full compensation for all post-traumatic stress disorders that these dangerous dogs cause

The expense of such insurance coverage would tend to be large, but nowhere near as large as the responsibility that owners must bear for any death and injury caused by their dogs.

This requirement may have the much desired effect of making the full responsibility of ownership of such dogs altogether so much clearer to the responsible type of owner.

For the irresponsible type of owner, this much clearer picture might also prove a natural deterrent to even wanting to own such a dog and encourage him towards loving a much nicer type of dog — of which there are many.

HARTLEY WATLINGTON

Sandys