British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak walks at Downing Street in London, Britain September 6, 2023. REUTERS/Susannah Ireland Acquire Licensing Rights
LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned on Friday American XL bully dogs can be banned by the top of the yr after a person was killed in one other suspected assault on Thursday.
The announcement got here lower than per week after one of many stocky, muscular dogs was concerned in an assault on an 11-year-old lady who was walking to the retailers together with her sister within the English metropolis of Birmingham.
Announcing the plan, Sunak mentioned he “shares the nation’s horror” relating to a collection of great canine assaults.
“It’s clear this isn’t a few handful of badly educated dogs, it is a sample of behaviour and it can not go on,” Sunak mentioned in a video message.
He mentioned a person was killed on Thursday in central England in an assault involving a suspected XL bully canine. Police mentioned a person had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
According to marketing campaign group Bully Watch, which advocates for a ban on promoting and breeding giant XL bully dogs, the breed was chargeable for greater than half of all deadly canine assaults in Britain final yr.
XL bully dogs had been initially bred from American pit bull terriers and American Staffordshire terriers and first appeared within the UK “round 2014 or 2015”, with the numbers rising quickly in recent years, the marketing campaign group mentioned.
Sunak has requested the police and specialists to outline XL bully dogs, a primary step he mentioned earlier than he hopes they are often banned by the top of the yr.
Quite a few British animal welfare charities, together with the RSPCA, mentioned this week that banning particular canine breeds isn’t the answer.
In a joint assertion, they as a substitute blamed “irresponsible breeding, rearing and possession” and mentioned the federal government ought to as a substitute give attention to “canine management rules, and on selling accountable canine possession and coaching”.
Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; enhancing by Michael Holden and Andrew Heavens
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