More than half a million people have signed a petition to stop Rishi Sunak adding the American XL Bully to the list of banned breeds.
Titled ‘Bad Owners Are To Blame, Not The Breed’, the petition has enough signatures that MPs must consider debating it in the Commons.
The government is currently on track to make the XL Bully the fifth breed to be banned in the UK after it was linked to a spike in violent, unprovoked and often fatal attacks on humans.
Current owners will be allowed to keep their dogs as long as they obey strict conditions, while breeding, selling, giving away or abandoning them will be punishable by up to 6 months’ jail.
The petition’s creator, Glyn Saville, insists the XL Bully is a ‘kind, beautiful natured breed that loves children and people’.
Urging people to sign his petition on Parliament’s website, he wrote: ‘An XL Bully is a “Heinz 57”, a mixture of different breeds, so if you ban them then this will have implications for cross breeds of dog because nobody can be sure on the breed specifics.
‘They are all different sizes and shapes. Just because a dog is big and muscular doesn’t mean it can be labelled an XL Bully, it is unfair to do this.
‘It is also a well-known fact that how a dog acts is a reflection of the owner’s actions. Bad owners should be punished, not the breed of dog – hold bad owners accountable.’
A group of seven major charities have joined forces as The Dogs Control Coalition to oppose the ban, saying it won’t work and could be too ‘complicated’ to implement because the breed is not widely recognised.
Ministers have said the ban will ‘take a while’ to implement because experts and prosecutors need to agree on how to define XL Bully characteristics by law.
Contrary to what the petition suggests, some organisations do have guidelines on what makes a dog an XL Bully. However many bodies do not recognise the breed.
The Kennel Club, which runs the national register of pedigree dogs in the UK, does not recognise the American Bully breed at all – let alone the XL Bully variety, which it says there is ‘no clear classification’ for.
This view is shared by the highly influential International Canine Federation as well as the American Kennel Club.
On the other hand, the American Bully is recognised by the European Bully Kennel Club, the American Bully Kennel Club and United Kennel Club, who define the XL variety simply by size.
The Dogs Control Coalition includes The Kennel Club, the RSPCA, Blue Cross, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Dogs Trust, Hope Rescue and British Veterinary Association.
In a statement, it argued that the ban will not address the ‘root issue’ of ‘unscrupulous breeders’ and ‘irresponsible owners’.
It said: ‘The biggest priority for everyone involved is to protect the public – but banning the breed will sadly not stop these types of incidents recurring.
‘For 32 years, the Dangerous Dogs Act has focused on banning types of dog and yet has coincided with an increase in dog bites and the recent deaths show that this approach isn’t working.’
The Kennel Club said ministers should instead ‘update, consolidate and where necessary, replace existing legislation to focus on prevention, regardless of the breed’.
‘A properly enforced dog control notice regime should be backed by a national database where information can be shared between all relevant enforcement agencies and problem owners can be traced,’ it added in a statement.
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