Campaigners say they face harassment over support for ban on XL bully dogs

Dog attack victims, academics and professionals who publicly support the incoming ban on American XL bullies have received abuse at home, work and online in what has been labelled a "weird culture war".

- Jamie Grierson

The UK government announced in September that the breed will be added to the list banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 after a rise in attacks and fatalities.

From Sunday it will be against the law to sell, abandon or let stray, give away, breed or have in public without a lead and muzzle an XL bully, and from 1 February it will be an offence to own one of the dogs in England and Wales without an exemption. 

Animal welfare groups have argued against the ban, saying the Dangerous Dogs Act has not stopped a rise in attacks since its introduction and claim that important work within the UK government to address wider problems has stalled due to the focus on the XL bully ban.

But groups such as the Centre for Evidence-Based Regulation of Dangerous Dogs (CEBRDD), a volunteer organisation composed of professionals and academics, have argued there is evidence that the breed has a propensity for violence.

Their research shows that between 2001 and 2021 there were an average of three fatalities a year. However, in 2022, 10 people were killed, four of whom were children, most of which incidents were linked to XL bullies.

As of August, as discussions of a ban were picking up pace, there had already been five deaths. And in one week in July, one dog a day was killed by an American bully.