'Give us a law with teeth to stop pit bulls gnawing on trees'

Pit bull owners who train their dogs to fight by forcing them to gnaw on park trees face a campaign to outlaw the practice.

More than 100 trees in Kensington and Chelsea have been killed by pit bulls and councillors are considering lobbying the Government to create a new law.

Playground equipment in Sunbeam Park, North Kensington, has been destroyed by the practice, which is designed to strengthened pit bulls' jaw muscles. Park officials have tried to fence off trees but the protection has been ripped out of the ground.

Nick Paget-Brown, the council's cabinet member for environmental management, said: "We are looking at how we can deal with this and one way is to lobby the Government to see if we can create a new law to make it illegal for dog owners to use trees in this way.

"It is bad enough that a small minority of people are clearly using their dogs to fight which in itself is animal cruelty."

Park warden patrols have been stepped up and members of the public are asked to report incidents.

It comes after the RSPCA reported a a dramatic increase in the number of dog fights referred to the charity.