Alarmist, or spot on from the Telegraph:
All American XL Bully dogs could be neutered and muzzled to prevent further attacks under plans put to the Government by a former policing minister.
Kit Malthouse, a former Cabinet minister who led a crackdown on dangerous dogs when Boris Johnson was the Mayor of London, said that new legislation should be introduced in the King’s Speech this autumn to ban the sales, breeding and imports of the XL Bully dogs and bring in “neuter and muzzle” orders.
He said that this should be allied to an amnesty for owners to hand in their dogs if they recognised that they could not handle them, so that they could be cared for in dogs’ homes or put down.
A Government source said that “all options were on the table” to tackle what Mrs Braverman has described as an animal posing a “clear and lethal danger to our communities”. The breed, which can grow to the size of a mountain lion, is said to be responsible for 75 per cent of the fatal dog attacks in the past three years.
Stan Rawlinson, one of Britain’s leading dog behaviour experts who has acted as an expert witness in courts, said that the breed was so dangerous that, for the first time in his career, he believed that it should be added to the list of banned breeds in the Dangerous Dogs Act.
He said that he was normally against “breed-specific legislation” but said: “The XL Bully is the most dangerous dog breed I have ever seen. It’s hyper reactive, has enhanced drive and reactivity that is completely off the scale. There is something wrongly wired.”
‘Weapons grade’ dogs
Mr Malthouse led a campaign as London’s deputy mayor a decade ago amid a surge in attacks requiring two ambulance call outs a day to deal with injured victims. In one year, police rounded up 1,000 dangerous canines, which he branded as “weapon” dogs for the way they were used by thugs to intimidate and attack people.
He said the XL Bully dogs were “weapons grade” and even more dangerous than the pitbulls that he took action against in 2012. “They are incredibly aggressive, incredibly strong and operate on an incredibly slight hair trigger before they suddenly attack. That’s the concern,” he said.
Ministers would have to legislate to require dogs to be neutered to prevent breeding and muzzled to deter attacks but Mr Malthouse believes that it would be popular with other pet owners, who would be more than willing to report those who disobeyed the orders.
The amnesty would be targeted at those owners who “buy a little puppy but which then grows into a slavering monster”. Mr Malthouse, who was policing minister under Boris Johnson before being promoted to education secretary, added: “If they cannot cope with it, there should be some way to surrender the dog.”
He also proposed specialist police units in response to a 34 per cent rise in dog attacks in the past five years, from 16,394 in 2018 to 21,918 last year
SOURCE:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/09/11/american-xl-bully-attack-ana-paun-birmingham-ban/
Kit Malthouse is a bellend.
Licencing is the way. For breeding at the very least, and actually for all breeds imo. Ownership and breeding licencing for at least bigger, more powerful breeds would be far more effective than any ban has ever been.
The XL Bully was never bred for fighting. in fact, every effort was made to breed the prey drive out and for it to be a gentle giant, which the vast majority still are today. Lockdown did this breed and some others absolutely no favours. Every knobhead scally and their mates trying to make a quick £10k, with little or no care taken to preserve the temperament of the breed.
Licenses weren't policed well enough when they tried it before and that's where the government need to direct efforts and resources. But alas, the Tories (and media) will always try and push for the action that is cheapest and most dramatic, whilst banning breeds as NEVER solved the problem of people breeding and owning dogs with little or no intention or ability to train any dog properly.
Ban the XL Bully and arseholes who want a "hard" dog will just move on to the Cane Corso or Presa Canario or whatever other dog that's capable of easily killing people.