Home Secretary vows to outlaw killer XL Bully dogs & calls beasts ‘lethal danger’ after horror attack on girl, 11
THE Home Secretary last night vowed to outlaw killer XL bully dogs.
Suella Braverman aims to ban their breeding and sale after the latest horror attack on a girl, 11, plus two men who intervened in Birmingham at the weekend.
Bullys have been linked to nine deaths, including three children, since 2021.
Ms Braverman said: “They are terrorising our communities and pose a particular threat to children. It must end.”
The Home Secretary branded XL bully dogs “a clear and lethal danger” as she moved to outlaw them in this country.
Ms Braverman tweeted: “The American XL bully is a clear and lethal danger to our communities, particularly to children. We can’t go on like this. I have commissioned urgent advice on banning them.”
Afterwards she told The Sun: “Myself and the Policing Minister Chris Philp have commissioned urgent advice on options to enhance public safety, and ban their breeding and sale.”
American bullys, including the XL breed, have been responsible for 73 per cent of dog-related deaths in the UK since 2022 but make up a tiny percentage of the total canine population.
The number of attacks means Britons are 270 times more likely to be killed by American bullys than any other breed, says campaign group Bully Watch UK.
Disturbing footage posted to social media on Saturday showed an XL bully mauling the girl before savaging a man in Bordesley Green, Birmingham.
The horrifying clip, later shared by the Home Secretary online alongside her plea to remove the dogs, shows the animal savagely biting the girl’s arm.
The rampaging hound was briefly held by a man in a green tank top, but it then escaped and attacked another man wearing a white T-shirt, bum bag and shorts.
But as he attempts to flee, the dog chases him into a Texaco petrol station, making him fall over.
West Midlands Police said: “An 11-year-old girl was bitten as she ran past the dog as it was being walked by its owner.
“Two men intervened but were bitten and left with injuries to their shoulders and arms. They were taken to hospital.
“The dog was initially taken to a local vet to be checked over before being taken into secure kennels.
“The owner of the dog has been spoken to by officers.”
There have been nine fatalities linked to XL bullys since 2021, three of which were children.
XL Bullys are bred from a combination of dogs.
The main one is the American pit bull terrier, which was banned here in 1991.
However, underground breeders can mix legal pit bulls with other dogs.
A Sun on Sunday probe earlier this year found unregistered breeders offering the canines for as much as £2,500 over the internet.
Bully Watch UK said: “Our research shows American bully-type dogs have been responsible for 44 per cent of all reported attacks by dogs since the start of the year, with the bully XL involved in 22 per cent of all attacks.”
Last year there were 22,000 dog attacks causing injury in England and Wales, and 16,000 in 2018.
Ex-Justice Secretary Robert Buckland backed the ban, saying: “I am deeply concerned by the rise of attacks on people, pets and livestock by XL bully dogs.”
Dog breeder Stan Rawlinson, 76, said: “These dogs are a danger to women, children and everyone else. There’s something wrongly wired in them. They’re incredibly powerful. They can open up your jugular veins almost immediately.
“I wouldn’t go near one. I’ve been around all sorts of dogs, even the most dangerous. But these XL bullys are very reactive.”
Elisa Allen, of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), added: “It is an undeniable fact that most serious and fatal dog attacks are by bully breeds.”
Dog death list grows
JACK Lis, aged ten, was one of nine people killed by XL Bullies in the past two years.
The lad, from Caerphilly, was mauled at a pal’s house in November 2021.
In March 2022, Bella Rae-Birch, one, of St Helens, Merseyside, died after her family’s new dog mauled her at home.
Joanne Robinson, 43, was savaged when her dog “snapped”, in the July, in Rotherham, South Yorks.
Then in August, Ian Symes, 34, was mauled by his dog the first time he took it out in Fareham, Hants.
Widow Shirley Patrick, 83, died in the December, in a brutal mauling in Caerphilly.
Natasha Johnston, 28, died when eight dogs she was paid to walk turned on her in Caterham, Surrey, on January 12 this year.
Also in January, Alice Stones, four, was killed in Milton Keynes.