WEST Yorkshire Police has spent more than £2 million over the past five years dealing with dangerous dogs.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) sent to the force showed dangerous dog cases have cost police £2,006,849 from April 2018 until now.

These costs include providing kennels, veterinary treatment, and putting down these dogs.

The data covers the last five financial years (from April to the same month the year after), including from April until now.

Police have already shelled out £362,580 to deal with dangerous dogs in 2022/23.

This represents the lowest total of all five years but there is still just under half a year to go until the financial year ends.

The highest amount spent was last year, in 2021/22, when the force paid £461,609 for housing, treating and destroying dangerous dogs.

This was a huge rise on the three years before, with police spending £391,546 in 2020/21 and £395,557 in both 2019/20 and 2018/19.

Officers have seized 95 dogs so far in 2022 which were deemed to be out of control, aggressive, have attacked someone or were considered dangerous.

Just under half of these – 43 – were put down, while almost 20 per cent – 18 – were banned breeds.

Earlier this year, David Moore, 63, of Dorothy Street in Keighley was handed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months at Bradford Crown Court after Buddy – an American Bulldog – badly bit a police community support officer on March 22, 2020.

The large white dog – which had previously injured two customers at Worth Valley Garage, in Worth Way, Keighley which it guarded – sunk his teeth into both the PCSO’s arms, the court heard.

The officer was investigating a suspected burglary at the business when Buddy ran at her.

The PCSO read out her victim personal statement in court saying she feared the dog was going to kill her as she lay on the ground.

She said: “Every time I moved, he growled, and I thought I was going to die a horrendous death.”

Buddy had to be housed in kennels during the case and experienced staff there said he was unsafe to handle and a canine expert said the dog had inflicted “an extremely strong full-mouth bite” and was capable of causing a life-threatening injury.

The court ordered Buddy to be destroyed and Moore was banned from keeping a dog for two years.