How many dogs have been destroyed following a court of any type issuing a destruction order, in each year since 2012.

This information is not held centrally and relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court and Tribunals Service (SCTS) corporate body.
The SCTS have provided the following table detailing how many orders of destruction were issued by the courts. However, they don’t hold records of how many dogs were then subsequently “destroyed”. Following an order being issued by the court, appeals and other protocols can occur. Once the order is issued SCTS do not find out the outcome of whether the dog was destroyed or not, the specific information is not held by SCTS.
Destruction orders issued under both the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010 at Scottish Courts
Financial Year
Destruction order
Contingent Destruction order
2012-13
8
6
2013-14
12
7
2014-15
11
10
2015-16
11
6
2016-17
13
5
2017-18
6
9
2018-19
11
10
2019-20
9
4
2020-21
4
1
2021-22
8
8
2022-23
11
12
2023-24 YTD
8
5
Total
112
83
Source: SCTS
Data Notes
1. Data is based on all cases disposed in the Sheriff, Justice of the Peace and High Courts from 1st April 2012 until 30th September 2023 where at least one charge falls under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 or the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010.
2. These orders are from the courts disposals that occurred within that period regardless of when the case was registered. This is at case/accused level where at least one order falls under the charges from Acts above. A distinct order is only counted once per person per case.
3. Contingent Destruction Orders are not a final destruction outcome and a breach of this order may not be subsequently recorded as such through the court disposal system. A contingent destruction order is a court order that allows a dog to be spared from being destroyed if the owner complies with the conditions set out in the order.
4. YTD is 1st April 2023 until 30th September 2023.
5. There is a possibility that text disposals may also exist that impose a destruction order. As this is a manual field all text disposals would require manual interrogation.
6. There is an option to proceed through the civil court system to acquire a dog destruction order, however as there is no specific case category, type and subtype which would allow SCTS to identify these cases, they are unable to electronically extract any information in relation to these.
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service uses a live operational case management system for the processing of court business. The information held on the system is structured for these operational needs, rather than for statistical reporting or research purposes. The information provided is based on the best information available from the case management system as at 20-10-2023.