Recently, as the dog of a famous star bit and killed the owner of a famous Korean restaurant, incidents of dog bites have become a serious social issue. In Korea, where over 20% of the households raise dogs, accidents where people get hurt or die from dog bites are increasing. According to the Korea Consumer Agency, there were only 245 accidents in 2011, but last year, the number quadrupled to 1,019 accidents. Therefore, measures to protect people from dog bites are required.
  Above all, the causes of the incidents should be specified. Even if most dogs are friendly to us, dogs have a wild instinct, so they might bite people. However, accidents can happen because some dog owners don’t put any safeties on their dogs because they feel their dogs won’t bite. Actually, the number of offenses of not leashing dogs in Han River Park increased from 28,429 in 2013 to 38,309 last year.
  Not leashing dogs outside is classified as a crime because putting safeties on dogs is compulsory in the present system. However, if accidents do occur because of not leashing dogs, the most severe punishments for the owners are a monetary penalty or imprisonment without forced labor. On the other hand, in the U.S., if a dog kills a person because of the owner’s carelessness, the owner can get sentenced to jail for 6 months. In the UK, the owner can get a maximum of 14 years jail. Choi Sang-hoe, a professor of the Center for Creative, Convergence, and Education, said, “First of all, creating an environment where all people can feel safe is important. It is also better to educate the dog owners rather than strengthen the regulations.”
  Due to the increase in dog bites and the weak regulations, the public sentiment that the government should strengthen the regulations is growing. Cheon Min-seong (’14, Dept. of International Business) said, “Dog owners who don’t put any safety devices on their dogs should bear a large portion of the responsibility in the dog bite incidents. In addition, if the regulations are weak, some people will abuse the regulation system. Therefore, the punishment for the owners should be strengthened.” Recently, the Korean government has taken action by creating a Dog Safety Management Task Force. Kim Young-rok, a minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, said, “For dog safety management, the owners’ awareness must increase. The management of fierce dogs and the punishment for the owners who don’t fulfill their safety management duty should also be bolstered.” He also said, “We are going to make a law that mandates muzzles on dogs weighing over 15kg, and the owners who don’t follow the law will get a jail sentence.”
  For the methods of helping the victims, reinforcement of the animal registration system and forcing the owners to sign up for insurance for dangerous pets have been suggested. In 2014, officials in the animal registration system began mandatorily registering owners’ dogs in public offices and attaching GPS tags on the dogs in the hope of finding lost dogs easier. However, the rate of registration remained at 5% in 2015. Of course, there is a fine for owners who don’t register their dogs, but in fact, that deterrent is not working properly yet. Therefore, the animal registration system should be strengthened. There is animal insurance now, but as it is not mandatory and the maximum insurance payout is only about 5 million won, it is not still enough to cover the medical expenses caused by a dog bite. To solve this problem, insurance guarantees for fierce dogs has been suggested, which can give insurance money to the victims quicker because the insurance company gives the money to the victims and then retrieves the money back from the owners later.
  As there is an increase in the number of households which raise dogs, dogs have become companions and friends. For the owners, dogs are as valuable as people. However, there should be stronger preventive measures, regulations, and punishments for protecting innocent people.

By Yoo Seong-woo
sw38@cbnu.ac.kr