They likely must have some statistics. But if I had to do an uneducated guess, I would guess it’s also due to poorly socialized dogs from lockdown time. Not that it’s mutually exclusive.
For everyone saying this seems random/odd/pointless/in response to some Karen etc:
February 2023: Dog walker mauled to death by dogs at Surrey beauty spot
The dog walker, from Croydon, died after suffering massive blood loss caused by multiple bites to the neck in Gravelly Hill, Caterham, on January 12, while she was out with eight dogs.
Ah, I forgot that councillors don't read newspapers. There's no way a councillor in North Somerset could have been aware of this attack in Surrey, as reported in the national papers.
Council leader Mike Bell said a public consultation showed "strong support" for the plan.
The move comes after dog attacks in North Somerset reportedly rose from 385 in 2020 to 480 in 2023.
"There will be exceptional circumstances and we will need to keep that under review in terms of the operational realities," Mr Bell said.
But Portishead South councillor Peter Burden said the rule was "a step too far," adding the council already had powers to make people put a dog on a lead.
"Two Labradors came over that were totally out of control, whereas we noticed in the corner of the field there was a man on his own with about 25 beagles.
The council said more rules for dog owners could soon be implemented to cover specific places in North Somerset.
The original article contains 289 words, the summary contains 134 words. Saved 54%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
"The ban - which covers all spaces in North Somerset open to the public".
I live in South Somerset (Yeovil) but since the county went even more bizarre and decided to amalgamate into some mad centralised Somerset County thingie instead of the old Somerset regions. who knows what this ruling even means?
@mex@feddit.co.uk - fix the title to note coverage only applies to North Somerset (whatever that is). It's shitty to imply something that doesn't apply to the vast majority of a county, let alone the country.
It's from a BBC local site, which is entitled to assume that readers know which section they're in. You need to add context or it just becomes misleading clickbait.