‘Danger to Our Communities’: UK Govt Finally Moves to Ban Deadly ‘American Bully XL’ Dogs

SOUTHEND, ENGLAND - JUNE 10: An XL bully dog called Daisy drinks from a portable bottle in
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Oliver JJ Lane

American Bully XL dogs are a “danger to our communities”, said UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, saying they will be banned in remarks that come almost two years after the first person was killed in Britain in an attack by one of the breed and hours after yet another fatality.

A deadly and newly fashionable dog cross-breed that has killed several people in recent years in Britain will be banned by the end of this year, PM Rishi Sunak said on Friday, just hours after a man was mauled to death by two of the American Bully XLs in Staffordshire, England, as he tried to protect his mother. Campaigners have criticised the government for not having acted sooner, including the mother of a child who was killed by a Bully XL in 2021.

Sunak cited a recent viral video that showed a Bully XL attacking a child and going on a rampage on a shopping street in Birmingham, England, last weekend when he announced the ban, saying the animals are a “danger to our communities, particularly our children”.

He continued: “Yesterday we saw another suspected XL Bully dog attack which has tragically led to a fatality” and said while there was a legal obligation for owners to keep dogs under control, this was not enough in the case of some breeds which had to be outlawed.

Bully XLs have been responsible for the majority of human deaths by dogs in the United Kingdom in the past two years, with 11 people killed. Police kennels that hold dangerous dogs are “full” of the breed, a report claimed earlier this year, underlining their overrepresentation in non-fatal attacks on humans too.

Some are deeply opposed to banning Bully XLs, and are against any dog breed bans at all, arguing that it is not the animal that is at fault, but rather bad owners. The Prime Minister rejected this assessment in his statement, saying: ” It is clear this is not about a handful of badly trained dogs, it is a pattern of behavior and it cannot go on.”

Part of the problem for the government in introducing effective law to protect the public is that American Bully XL is not yet a breed recognized in law, so it needs to be defined before further steps can be taken. Once this has happened, it will be added to the UK’s Dangerous Dogs Act, the Prime Minister said.

Existing Bully XLs will be neutered and will be ordered to wear muzzles at all times.

An American Bully XL is the largest variety of a mix between American Pitbull Terriers and American Staffordshire Terriers, with some other breeds and are, the BBC says, “Strong enough to overpower an adult”. Pitbull Terriers are already illegal in the United Kingdom under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

It is reported many of the Bully XLs in the United Kingdom are extremely inbred, with the Daily Telegraph reporting earlier this week half of all dogs of the breed in the UK descend from just one dog, ‘Killer Kimbo’, which itself was born of two siblings. The report stated: “Kimbo’s size and strength, produced through generations of inbred fighting dogs, has given it legendary status in the XL Bully community.”

While the government has finally announced it will act against the Bully XL dogs, it is not before they were criticised for inaction in the face of a growing crisis. Emma Whitfield, whose ten-year-old son Jack was killed by one of the dogs in 2021 expressed her grief this week that it was a viral video of a dog attacking people in the street that prompted the government to consider taking action, rather than people killed by the same breed — including children — in recent years.

“Why has it taken this video and not a child’s life to do something?”, she said, reports the BBC, adding “I could have told you it was a lethal breed in November 2021”. Whitfield is active on social media and has said as well as banning the breed and encouraging “responsible breeding”, there should also be stricter laws for breeding and selling dogs.

Had the government acted sooner it is conceivable that 52-year-old Ian Price, who was killed by two “suspected American bully XLs” just yesterday could have lived. Price was attacked in Stonnall near Walsall, Staffordshire and died, it is reported, trying to protect his elderly mother from the animals. An eyewitness said the dogs were attacking Price for “15 to 20” minutes before someone managed to drag them off him.

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