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Opinion — UK XL bully ban will ultimately fail to prevent dog attacks
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has announced a ban on the American XL bully breed following a rise in serious dog attacks last year. Here’s why I believe the move is short-sighted, tokenistic, and ultimately destined to fail.
Does the UK government enjoy anything more than a knee-jerk reaction these days? Here I sit, exasperated, pleading that policymakers adopt a holistic and sensible approach to addressing a serious issue — for once.
If you live in the UK, you’ll no doubt have seen newspaper headlines and TV reports in recent weeks describing a sharp rise in dog attacks since 2020.
Several distressing videos and eyewitness accounts have emerged on social media revealing fatal attacks involving adult and child bystanders. The government has hastily responded with measures it hopes will diminish the volume of incidents whilst sating a growing sense of public hysteria.
Currently bearing the brunt of this onus is a breed unfortunately named the ‘American XL bully’. First emerging in the 1990s as a result of crossbreeding involving pit bulls, English bulldogs, and American bulldogs, the XL bully…
