XL Bully dog attacks killed 23 people in two years before landmark ban
XL Bully dog attacks killed 23 people in two years before landmark ban
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Between 2001 and 2021 there were an average of three fatal dog attacks a year, compared with 23 over the following two-year period. Possession of the animals without a certificate of exemption was banned last February and has resulted in more than 55,000 being placed on a government database. The number of attacks by XL Bullies is expected to decrease over the next decade in correlation with a decline in ownership of the dogs. XL Bullies have been blamed for at least 17 fatal attacks since 2020.
On Monday, the owner of a ferocious XL Bully that chased a man 100 metres before killing him was jailed for three years. Chris Bell's pet Titan felled Ian Langley, 54, and locked his neck in its jaws. The dog bit through a jugular vein, causing unsurvivable injuries, a court heard. Bell went home to dial 999 after the attack in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, in October 2023.
In December last year a nine-month-old baby was mauled by an XL Bully. Arabella was airlifted for treatment after being savaged by the dog, which was euthanised following the attack. The infant, from Hawkinge, Kent, was placed in an induced coma but did not need surgery and her family say she has now been discharged.
Her grandfather said: "Arabella is doing really well, as is her mum." An 18-year-old man and a 76-year-old woman were arrested and bailed on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control. In September 2023 Ian Price, 52, died after being attacked by two American XL Bullys in Stonnall, Staffs. In November 2021, Jack Lis, 10, was killed by an American XL Bully at a pal's house in Caerphilly, South Wales.
