Pit Bulls

Violent owners make for vicious Pit Bulls. A good, well loved pittie is one of the coolest and calms breeds there are:

U.K. leader vows to ban American bully XL dogs after fatal attack: "Danger to our communities"
BY MADDIE RICHARDS
SEPTEMBER 15, 2023 / 11:59 AM / CBS NEWS

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced his intention Friday to have a type of dog known as the American bully XL banned in Britain, calling them "a danger to our communities."

The announcement came a day after a man died from injuries sustained during an attack believed to have involved this type of dog. A 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after originally being arrested on suspicion of having dogs dangerously out of control.

The death followed another recent attack in England in which an 11-year-old girl was seriously injured by an American bully XL.

Neither the U.K. nor the U.S. Kennel Clubs recognize the bully XL as a unique breed, though some other organizations do. It was originally bred from the American pitbull terrier and strongly resembles that breed, but larger.

"Today I have tasked [government] ministers to bring together police and experts to firstly define the breed of dogs behind these attacks, with a view to then outlawing it," Sunak said in a video shared Friday on social media. "It is not currently a breed defined in law, so this vital first step must happen fast. We will then ban the breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act."

If added, the American bully XL, or XL bully as it is sometimes called, would be the fourth breed banned under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act in the U.K., joining the pitbull terrier from which it was bred, the Japanese tosa, the dogo Argentino and the fila Brasileiro.

Sunak's statement came just a couple days after British Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she was seeking advice on outlawing bully XLs in a tweet. She shared a news report that included security camera video showing the dog involved in the attack on the girl chasing and attacking a man after he tried to help.

"This is appalling. The American XL Bully is a clear and lethal danger to our communities, particularly to children," Braverman said. "We can't go on like this."

The U.K. Kennel Club argues that no breed of dog is inherently dangerous and has even suggested that demonizing certain breeds may make them more attractive to people who want to use dogs for violent or illegal purposes.

The organization says breed-specific bans ignore the most important factors that contribute to biting incidents — primarily irresponsible dog owners who train their dogs to be aggressive.

The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe wrote in 2019 that there was no scientific or statistical evidence to suggest breed-specific bans reduce either the frequency or severity of injuries to people.

The UK’s chief veterinary officer has stressed there will be an amnesty before a ban on American XL bully dogs, after an expert said the breed was behind almost half of all attacks on humans and dogs killed since 2021.

An amnesty for XL bullies will mean existing animals are not culled, but that owners are required to register and keep them leashed and muzzled in public, Dr Christine Middlemiss said.

Rishi Sunak announced on Friday that the XL bully would be banned by the end of the year after it emerged a man in the West Midlands died following an attack on Thursday by dogs suspected to be XL bullies.

It was the latest in a series of maulings by the breed – six of the 10 fatal dog attacks in the UK last year were linked to XL bullies, and at least three of the seven this year.

Making the case for the ban on Times Radio after some animal charities opposed it, Dr Lawrence Newport described the breed as “uniquely dangerous”.

“This dog breed is responsible for over 70% of all deaths to dogs since 2021; it’s responsible for nearly 50% of all attacks on both humans and other dogs. In one week in July this year, one dog a day was killed by an American bully,” he said.

While the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) and others have argued that adding the breed to the UK’s list of banned dogs will not stem the rise in attacks, Newport offered a comparison to attacks by pit bulls, which have been legislated against since the the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.

“That ban has been very successful. And we know that because for example, in the UK, we have half the per capita deaths to dogs that the US does, and that difference is entirely explained by pit bulls,” he said, adding that the breed was responsible for about 60% of deaths to dogs in the US.

Middlemiss told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that a ban on XL bullies would be just one of the measures, stressing the importance of knowing where these animals were in the country. “There’s also a huge amount of work ongoing already, about responsible breeding, responsible ownership and education of people who keep dogs that have the potential to be dangerous.”

But questions remain around the timescale of the ban’s introduction. The food and farming minister, Mark Spencer MP, warned on Friday that banning the breed, which is officially recognised by the Royal Kennel Club, was “not as simple” as it may appear and may take longer than expected.

“We’re going to have to go through the process of identifying the characteristics of that type of dog and make sure that we don’t encapsulate the wrong sort of dog in that process. It’s going to take a little while to do that,” he told the BBC’s Any Questions? programme.

The breed, which was first introduced to the UK around 2014, has soared in popularity in recent years but there is a dearth of reliable data on their numbers. Despite the breed being responsible for a high proportion of fatal attacks, Bully Watch, a group that has pushed for the ban, believes they make up less than 1% of all owned dogs across the country.