The quarterly data by the Office of Local Government (OLG) records the number of attacks on people and other animals.

In the January-March 2016 quarter, six dog attacks were recorded in the Bathurst Regional Council local government area. In those six attacks, one person and 15 animals were injured.

A Bathurst council spokesperson acknowledged that the majority of attacks were by dogs on other animals.

“It refers to a number of small pets and livestock, including several sheep,” she said.

By comparison, in the Jan-Mar quarter during 2015 there were six dog attacks (three people and three animals attacked). In 2014 there were seven attacks (three people and four animals attacked) and in 2013 there were five attacks (two people and 22 animals attacked).

And, while Bathurst has more dogs (20,507) than in Orange (18,662) and Dubbo (20,109), the city recorded far less attacks.

During the Jan-March quarter there were 14 dog attacks in Orange (with 12 people and 10 animals attacked), and there were 23 attacks in Dubbo (11 people and 44 animals attacked).

The number of dogs is steadily increasing across the three cities, with Bathurst numbers jumping by 1386 dogs (7.2 per cent) in the last 12 moths.

Orange and Dubbo have also experienced an increase during the same time period, with an extra 1143 (6.5 per cent) and 1075 (5.6 per cent) of dogs respectively.

Across NSW, there were 1110 dog attacks during the quarter, with 620 people and 1088 animals attacked.

Central West dogs attack figures for January 1 to March 31, 2016: