UK set to ban American XL Bully dogs after attacks

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The American XL Bully dog will be banned in the UK by the end of the year following recent dangerous attacks, the British premier announced.

Citing an incident this week in which a man died after being attacked by two of the dogs in Staffordshire, Rishi Sunak said: “It’s clear this is not about a handful of badly trained dogs. It’s a pattern of behavior, and it cannot go on.”

Sunak underlined that the breed is dangerous to people, especially children. He stressed that they are working to define and ban it to prevent further attacks on people.

“Today, I have tasked ministers to bring together police and experts to firstly define the breed of dog behind these attacks, to outlaw it then.”

They plan to ban the species under the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act, he said, which prohibits or restricts certain types of dogs and codifies the criminal offense of allowing a dog of any breed to be dangerously out of control.

So far, four types of dogs – the pitbull terrier, Japanese tosa, dogo Argentino, and Fila Brasileiro – are banned under the act.

“New laws will be in place by the end of the year,” Sunak added.