By Colin Fernandez Environment Editor For The Daily Mail
22:01 08 Feb 2024, up to date 22:46 08 Feb 2024
- Figures present a complete of 26,586 house owners utilized for his or her pets to be exempt
- But of those, 22,420 have been profitable whereas solely 4,166 have been denied
Thousands of American XL bully dogs can be spared after their house owners efficiently utilized for exemptions to having them put down.
Official figures present {that a} whole of 26,586 house owners utilized for his or her pets to be exempt from being confiscated and destroyed beneath new guidelines.
Of these, 22,420 have been profitable – and 4,166 have been denied – in accordance with a response by the Department for the Environment to a freedom of data request.
The demand for exemption certificates seems to have taken the Government abruptly. In the FOI launch it stated it had ‘originally estimated that England and Wales had a population of 10,000 XL bully dog types’.
A House of Commons committee final yr heard that there may very well be as many as 50,000 XL bullies, primarily based on info equipped by veterinary practices. Under new restrictions, unregistered pets will be taken and house owners fined and prosecuted.
Seized dogs are then taken to kennels earlier than a court docket decides if they need to both be destroyed or are deemed to not be a menace to public security.
The Certificate of Exemption entitles the holder to proceed to legally hold their dogs at a cost of £92.40.
The dogs should even be muzzled and stored on a lead in public, whereas males have to be neutered and females spayed. Their house owners should have legitimate third celebration public legal responsibility insurance coverage.
Under the brand new rules, XL bullies might not be held on a lead by anybody beneath 16 and their house owners should enable a police officer to test the canine’s microchip if they’re requested. It’s a authorized requirement to have any canine over the age of eight weeks microchipped.
The causes for exemption certificates being denied included: Invalid insurance coverage begin dates, house owners being beneath 16, and duplicate functions.
Defra stated it had obtained 137 functions for funds to house owners who had euthanised their dogs and had paid out £13,600 in compensation for euthanasia, reflecting 68 accomplished compensation funds of £200.
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons reported that a few of its members who had euthanised XL bully dogs ‘have faced abuse and harassment’.
The Government transfer to ban XL bullies adopted a sequence of assaults on individuals.
In essentially the most recent attack, Esther Martin, 68, was killed at her home in Jaywick in Essex on Saturday by a breed reported to be an XL bully.
Britain’s canine inhabitants is estimated at some 12million, in accordance with the Royal Veterinary College.
The most typical particular canine breeds throughout all ages have been the labrador retriever (6.9 per cent), Jack Russell terrier (4.5 per cent), English cocker spaniel (4.3 per cent), Staffordshire bull terrier (4.2 per cent) and chihuahua (3.6 per cent).
