UK
LICENSE OWNERS NOT DOGSBan on XL bully dogs ‘will leave abandoned strays roaming the streets’
ITS THE OWNER NOT THE BREED
Joe Pinkstone
Sat, 4 November 2023
Don't Ban Me - License Me spokeswoman Sophie Coulthard with her XL bully Billy - Paul Grover
The ban on XL bully dogs could lead to a large number of them being abandoned on the streets as strays, charities have warned.
It will be illegal to sell, breed or abandon an XL bully type dog from Jan 1 2024 and it will be an offence to own one from Dec 31 unless the animal is registered to the Index of Exempted Dogs.
In the latest incident on Friday, two people were taken to hospital with serious injuries after an attack by a suspected XL bully.
One woman reportedly fell out of the window of the flat where the attack happened on Friday night in Mansfield, said Nottinghamshire Police.
The large dog, believed to be an XL bully, was seized from a nearby property and taken to secure kennels.
Campaigners against the ban on American XL bully dogs have launched a legal challenge to the Government asking for the planned ban to be scrapped in favour of tightening laws around breeding and owning dogs, and educating owners.
Campaigners from Don’t Ban Me – License Me, largely made up of XL bully owners, have raised more than £50,000 towards a Judicial Review and plan to ask the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to rethink its plans to ban the breed.
John Cooper KC, the campaigners’ barrister, sent a Pre-Action Protocol in Judicial Review to Therese Coffey, the Environment Secretary, last Thursday, Nov 2.
Knee-jerk reaction
He said “It was a knee-jerk reaction done too quickly without proper consideration of the evidence – much of the evidence hasn’t been examined at all, and some of it is wrong.
“The public must be protected, but the Government’s decision does not protect them. The Dangerous Dogs Act of l99l didn’t stop dog bites or fatalities – in fact there are more fatalities and bites now than then.
“The way forward isn’t to add XL bullies to the banned list, but for owners to have proper control over their animals, and for there to be severe penalties for dog owners who don’t take their responsibilities seriously.
“Vets being asked to euthanise any XL bully dogs who don’t have an exemption certificate by the end of January 2024 say they can’t administer it. This ban is an ill thought-out mess.”
The ban has been called a “death sentence” and some charities, such as Dogs Trust, have already said they will not take in any more XL bully dogs because they have a policy of never putting down a healthy dog..
Animal charities told the Telegraph that any dogs in their care in 2024 will most likely have to be euthanised because it would be unethical to keep them in a kennel for the rest of their lives, which is the only other option, and many shelters are already full.
As a result, there are fears owners forced to relinquish their dogs will abandon them on the streets because it is the best chance the animal has at survival.
An owner can have the dog euthanised by a vet and get £200 compensation from the Government, or the dog can be given to a charity for rehoming until the end of the year. A charity will get £100 compensation from the Government for euthanising an XL bully.
Unscrupulous owners
The more unscrupulous owners may also opt for at-home destruction of animals too, to avoid veterinary costs, now the business of breeding and selling XL Bullys is outlawed.
Dr Sam Gaines, head of the companion animals team at the RSPCA, told the Telegraph: “It is now our fear that, as a result of this ban, we will see more dogs being abandoned and surrendered.
“In most cases, we expect that owners who are not going to be able to keep their dogs will do the responsible thing and not just abandon them on the street, but I think we have to expect that there will be some dogs that will be abandoned.
“We are going to end up with lots of authorities that are going to have to go out and collect those dogs and then euthanise them.”
Coventry council has reportedly seen a small rise in the number of stray XL bully dogs already this year. It is the statutory duty of the local authority to collect stray dogs where they are kept in a council pound for a week and their owners sought. In normal cases the stray will enter the rehoming process after seven days but if the dog meets the XL bully definition then it will be destroyed as of 2024.
However, some councils have already said they will not collect a stray dog if it is suspected it is an XL bully. Colchester and Cumberland councils have said the dog is too dangerous for their staff to collect and are in talks with their local police forces to help collect suspected stray XL bullys, for example.
This will add an additional burden on the dog units of local police forces which will be tasked with assessing if every XL bully in the country meets the definition laid out by Defra this week.
The definition of what an XL bully is includes descriptors of head size, height, muscularity and other physical features but was made without the input of the leading UK dog experts who withdrew from talks with the Government because of concerns it was too vague and broad a description.
The Government’s definition could also cover non-XL bully breeds, the experts say, with other bulldogs, mastiffs and some mongrels likely to inadvertently meet the XL bully criteria.
“Defra has been told that one of the big unintended consequences of having a broad definition is that potentially hundreds of thousands of dogs are going to be caught up in this,” Becky Thwaites, head of public affairs at Blue Cross, told the Telegraph.
Increased levels of euthanasia
Since the ban was formally announced on Tuesday, shelters have seen a surge in inquiries, with owners of an XL bully trying to figure out the best course of action.
“We’ve already been taking an increased number of calls from owners who are really worried about what this announcement means for them,” said Ms Thwaites.
“There’s going to be thousands of dogs who are going to be coming into organisations like ourselves, and it’s going to be a real challenge to rehome them. Ultimately, these pets are going to have to be put to sleep based purely on a law that we know actually isn’t even going to improve public safety.
“We are planning for increased levels of euthanasia over the next three months.”
She added that staff in the rescue sector are distraught at the prospect of spending months killing thousands of XL Bully dogs.
“I think we’ve got to be very realistic that the likelihood of being able to rehome some of these dogs is going to be very, very difficult,” Ms Thwaites said.
“The only thing we can do [with surrendered XL Bullys] is to keep it in a kennel for the rest of its life and that is not something from a welfare point of view that we could ever do.
“We aren’t able to provide the stimulation that a dog would need. It is a death sentence for dogs, that much we know.”
Joe Pinkstone
Sat, 4 November 2023
Don't Ban Me - License Me spokeswoman Sophie Coulthard with her XL bully Billy - Paul Grover
The ban on XL bully dogs could lead to a large number of them being abandoned on the streets as strays, charities have warned.
It will be illegal to sell, breed or abandon an XL bully type dog from Jan 1 2024 and it will be an offence to own one from Dec 31 unless the animal is registered to the Index of Exempted Dogs.
In the latest incident on Friday, two people were taken to hospital with serious injuries after an attack by a suspected XL bully.
One woman reportedly fell out of the window of the flat where the attack happened on Friday night in Mansfield, said Nottinghamshire Police.
The large dog, believed to be an XL bully, was seized from a nearby property and taken to secure kennels.
Campaigners against the ban on American XL bully dogs have launched a legal challenge to the Government asking for the planned ban to be scrapped in favour of tightening laws around breeding and owning dogs, and educating owners.
Campaigners from Don’t Ban Me – License Me, largely made up of XL bully owners, have raised more than £50,000 towards a Judicial Review and plan to ask the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to rethink its plans to ban the breed.
John Cooper KC, the campaigners’ barrister, sent a Pre-Action Protocol in Judicial Review to Therese Coffey, the Environment Secretary, last Thursday, Nov 2.
Knee-jerk reaction
He said “It was a knee-jerk reaction done too quickly without proper consideration of the evidence – much of the evidence hasn’t been examined at all, and some of it is wrong.
“The public must be protected, but the Government’s decision does not protect them. The Dangerous Dogs Act of l99l didn’t stop dog bites or fatalities – in fact there are more fatalities and bites now than then.
“The way forward isn’t to add XL bullies to the banned list, but for owners to have proper control over their animals, and for there to be severe penalties for dog owners who don’t take their responsibilities seriously.
“Vets being asked to euthanise any XL bully dogs who don’t have an exemption certificate by the end of January 2024 say they can’t administer it. This ban is an ill thought-out mess.”
The ban has been called a “death sentence” and some charities, such as Dogs Trust, have already said they will not take in any more XL bully dogs because they have a policy of never putting down a healthy dog..
Animal charities told the Telegraph that any dogs in their care in 2024 will most likely have to be euthanised because it would be unethical to keep them in a kennel for the rest of their lives, which is the only other option, and many shelters are already full.
As a result, there are fears owners forced to relinquish their dogs will abandon them on the streets because it is the best chance the animal has at survival.
An owner can have the dog euthanised by a vet and get £200 compensation from the Government, or the dog can be given to a charity for rehoming until the end of the year. A charity will get £100 compensation from the Government for euthanising an XL bully.
Unscrupulous owners
The more unscrupulous owners may also opt for at-home destruction of animals too, to avoid veterinary costs, now the business of breeding and selling XL Bullys is outlawed.
Dr Sam Gaines, head of the companion animals team at the RSPCA, told the Telegraph: “It is now our fear that, as a result of this ban, we will see more dogs being abandoned and surrendered.
“In most cases, we expect that owners who are not going to be able to keep their dogs will do the responsible thing and not just abandon them on the street, but I think we have to expect that there will be some dogs that will be abandoned.
“We are going to end up with lots of authorities that are going to have to go out and collect those dogs and then euthanise them.”
Coventry council has reportedly seen a small rise in the number of stray XL bully dogs already this year. It is the statutory duty of the local authority to collect stray dogs where they are kept in a council pound for a week and their owners sought. In normal cases the stray will enter the rehoming process after seven days but if the dog meets the XL bully definition then it will be destroyed as of 2024.
However, some councils have already said they will not collect a stray dog if it is suspected it is an XL bully. Colchester and Cumberland councils have said the dog is too dangerous for their staff to collect and are in talks with their local police forces to help collect suspected stray XL bullys, for example.
This will add an additional burden on the dog units of local police forces which will be tasked with assessing if every XL bully in the country meets the definition laid out by Defra this week.
The definition of what an XL bully is includes descriptors of head size, height, muscularity and other physical features but was made without the input of the leading UK dog experts who withdrew from talks with the Government because of concerns it was too vague and broad a description.
The Government’s definition could also cover non-XL bully breeds, the experts say, with other bulldogs, mastiffs and some mongrels likely to inadvertently meet the XL bully criteria.
“Defra has been told that one of the big unintended consequences of having a broad definition is that potentially hundreds of thousands of dogs are going to be caught up in this,” Becky Thwaites, head of public affairs at Blue Cross, told the Telegraph.
Increased levels of euthanasia
Since the ban was formally announced on Tuesday, shelters have seen a surge in inquiries, with owners of an XL bully trying to figure out the best course of action.
“We’ve already been taking an increased number of calls from owners who are really worried about what this announcement means for them,” said Ms Thwaites.
“There’s going to be thousands of dogs who are going to be coming into organisations like ourselves, and it’s going to be a real challenge to rehome them. Ultimately, these pets are going to have to be put to sleep based purely on a law that we know actually isn’t even going to improve public safety.
“We are planning for increased levels of euthanasia over the next three months.”
She added that staff in the rescue sector are distraught at the prospect of spending months killing thousands of XL Bully dogs.
“I think we’ve got to be very realistic that the likelihood of being able to rehome some of these dogs is going to be very, very difficult,” Ms Thwaites said.
“The only thing we can do [with surrendered XL Bullys] is to keep it in a kennel for the rest of its life and that is not something from a welfare point of view that we could ever do.
“We aren’t able to provide the stimulation that a dog would need. It is a death sentence for dogs, that much we know.”
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