LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said American XL bully dogs would be banned by the end of the year after a man was killed in another suspected attack.
The announcement came less than a week after one of the stocky, muscular dogs was involved in an attack on an 11-year-old girl who was walking to the shops with her sister in the English city of Birmingham.
Announcing the plan, Sunak said he “shares the nation’s horror” regarding a series of serious dog attacks. “It’s clear this is not about a handful of badly trained dogs, it’s a pattern of behaviour and it cannot go on,” Sunak said in a video message.
He said a man was killed on Thursday in central England in an attack involving a suspected XL bully dog. Police said a man had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
According to campaign group Bully Watch, which advocates for a ban on selling and breeding large XL bully dogs, the breed was responsible for more than half of all fatal dog attacks in Britain last year.
XL bully dogs were originally bred from American pit bull terriers and American Staffordshire terriers and first appeared in the UK “around 2014 or 2015”, with the numbers growing rapidly in recent years, the campaign group said.
Sunak has asked the police and experts to define XL bully dogs, a first step he said before he hopes they can be banned by the end of the year.
A number of British animal welfare charities, including the RSPCA, said this week that banning specific dog breeds is not the solution. In a joint statement, they instead blamed “irresponsible breeding, rearing and ownership” and said the government should instead focus on “dog control regulations, and on promoting responsible dog ownership and training”.
The United Kennel Club in the US says that an American Bully “makes an excellent family dog” with a “gentle and friendly” demeanour, “despite its powerful appearance”. It says that “some level of dog aggression is characteristic of this breed” but also notes “aggressive behaviour towards humans is uncharacteristic”.
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How many attacks have there been in UK?
American Bullies have been involved in several high-profile attacks in the UK. The most recent suspected attack happened in Walsall, in England’s West Midlands region.
An 11-year-old girl was attacked by an American bully XL in Birmingham on Saturday. Two men who intervened were also treated in hospital after being bitten by the animal.
In April, a 65-year-old grandmother was killed after she tried to break up a fight between her two American bullies at her home in Liverpool. The coroner noted that she had been found with “catastrophic injuries”.
Last year, a 17-month-old toddler was mauled to death in her own home by one of the dogs in St Helens, one week after her family had bought it.
In 2021, 10-year-old Jack Lis died from severe neck and head injuries after he was attacked by an American bully XL in Caerphilly, Wales. His mother, Emma Whitfield, has called for the dogs to be banned.
American Bullies are illegal in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The breed is also restricted in some countries, including the Republic of Ireland, where any American Bully must be muzzled and on a leash no longer than 2m (6ft 7in) when out in public.
Under the UK’s Dangerous Dogs Act, which prohibits any dog that is “dangerously out of control”, it is against the law to own the following breeds: Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentinos, and Fila Brazileiro. Dogs that share physical characteristics with the banned breeds such as crossbreeds are also banned.
