More than 100 illegal dogs have been seized by West Midlands Police in the last year, new figures reveal today. Officers also seized 28 dogs said to be out of control.

Figures released through the Freedom of Information Act show a total of 106 illegal dogs were picked up by police between April 2008 and March 2009. There are four different types of dogs banned in the UK – the pit bull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo argentino and the fila braziliero. But the Government says that whether a dog is a banned type depends on what it looks like.

This is rather than the breed or breed name by which it is called.

Sometimes banned breeds can be used for dog fighting, a problem the RSPCA says is on the increase.

West Midlands Police figures also show the force seized 28 dogs under the Dangerous Dogs Act for being “dangerously out of control in a public place” and “humanely destroyed” 92 dogs during the year.

Another was shot at the scene of an incident by firearms officers.

Insp Paul Minor, from West Midlands Police dog unit, said: “West Midlands Police takes the control of dangerous dogs very seriously and over recent months we have increased the training and number of specialist officers to work in this field.

“The two main areas we deal with are dogs which are classed as banned breeds and dogs which are out of control, or have attacked someone.”

“In both of these circumstances we would usually seize the animal while we make further inquiries, and where dogs are deemed dangerous by law or by nature, then the decision can be taken to have them put to sleep.”

In September seven people, including a man from Birmingham and a woman, were convicted of taking part in one of Europe’s largest dog-fighting syndicates.

Days later a dog covered with terrible injuries was discovered dead in Aston. It came just months after two other pitbull types, also thought to have been used in illegal fights, were found on a canal bank in Smethwick.

Last month Katie Hill, 24, who bred fighting dogs at her home in Filey Road, Bushbury, Wolverhampton, and sold them for up to £300 each was given an 18-week suspended jail sentence.