On Monday, a woman was mauled to death in London by her own two ‘exempted’ XL Bully dogs. By the time armed police and paramedics arrived at the shocking scene at her home in Hornchurch she was reportedly already dead. Her two sons had found her lying in the hallway and tried CPR but it was too late. Angeline Mahal, who was in her 50s, is the second person killed by XL Bully dogs since the ban on owning the breed without an exemption certificate was introduced in February. The first was Esther Martin, 68, who was killed by XLs belonging to her late daughter’s partner in Essex on 3 February, two days after the ban came in.
It is believed that Mahal had valid exemption certificates for both her dogs, meaning they were neutered, microchipped and would have been muzzled when she took them out in public, and therefore owned them legally.
It is a myth that some XL Bullies can be ‘good’ dogs
The government was undoubtedly right to introduce its ban on the XL Bully breed though it met with fierce opposition from charities, XL owners and campaigners opposed to breed-specific legislation (BSL) on the grounds they believe it also targets innocent dogs. The influential RSPCA opposes breed-specific legislation and still maintains that ‘there’s no robust research to demonstrate that dogs bred for fighting are naturally aggressive towards people or that they are unique in the way they can bite’. As such, the government too came to believe that well-behaved XLs are ‘good dogs’ and could be exempted because they posed no risk to anyone, human or animal. Thus, the exemption certificate for XL Bully dogs was born.
The RSPCA is the lead member of the Dog Control Coalition (DCC), which the government consulted in the lead-up to the ban. The DCC includes the Blue Cross, Battersea, Dogs Trust, the Kennel Club and the British Veterinary Association, all of which oppose breed-specific legislation and want it lifted so no breed is banned.
These organisations appear to believe that genetics play no part in a dog’s behaviour, even though fighting breeds were bred to kill. They argue that if you treat a dog well, it will make a lovely pet and maintain this viewpoint despite the statistics and the endless stories of people and animals being mauled or killed by one type of dog.
It is a myth that some XLs can be ‘good’ dogs. XLs are basically pitbulls bred to be larger. They behave like pitbulls: they can turn and kill having previously shown only their affectionate side. Something can trigger them and then their genetics take over. It is as simple as that, though it is also true that some can be fine all their lives. The organisation Bully Watch UK has carried out extensive research on their pedigrees and found every dog’s heritage to be traceable to registered American pitbull terriers and American Staffordshire terriers, with at some point mastiff, bulldogs and other breeds mixed in, though they are ‘genetically a pitbull type dog’.
The risk of keeping pitbulls – even those who had never previously shown aggression – has been known for years. One pitbull in the US was such an affectionate dog its owners named it Kissy Face. It was a lovely pet for eight years until one day in 2013 it turned on the toddler son of the family who owned it and killed him. Before it was put down it passed a temperament test with flying colours.
Because they can be so exceptionally friendly and loveable, people think their XL Bully or pitbull is one of the nice ones that would never attack anyone. 10-year-old Jack Lis entered a neighbour’s house to play with his friend in November 2021 and was knocked down by their XL Bully. It proceeded to inflict ‘unsurvivable’ injuries to his head and neck, killing him. Those neighbours obviously had no idea their dog would turn and kill because if they had, they would never have bought such a dog. Similarly with Mahal, who must have acquired her two XLs believing that how a dog turns out is all down to the owner, not the breed.
With its ban, the government has also gone wrong in thinking that it was only the large XLs that needed to be banned on account of their size. In July 2022, a ‘pocket bully’ – the smallest version of the American Bully – attacked a four-year-old girl in Glasgow leaving her with a ‘hole in her head’. This year in March, a woman was rushed to hospital after being seriously mauled by a pocket bully in a cemetery in Ashton Under Lyne. Just last week, an eight-year old boy in Grimsby was hospitalised after sustaining injuries to his leg following an attack by what was also believed to be a pocket bully.
Over the past two weeks we have heard more about the continual, horrific, carnage bully dogs cause. Last week, a mother and son in Merseyside were jailed after an XL Bully in their care ‘scalped’ a boy of eight in February. Footage also emerged last week of the aftermath of an attack by two XLs who ran amok on a farm in Wales last year, killing at least 22 pregnant sheep and injuring many more. That’s not to mention the countless dogs killed or savagely mutilated while out on their daily walks.
The government’s decision to ban XL Bully dogs this year was a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough. As long as people are allowed to keep bully dogs – whether XLs, pockets, or anything in between – these attacks will keep happening, causing death and injuries to countless humans and animals alike. The sooner the government wises up to this and extends the ban, the better.
It’s time for the dog world to wake up and accept the truth: these dogs were bred over centuries to fight and their genes haven’t changed a jot. Genetics count. You can’t train them away.
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