It’s not been a good week for XL Bully public relations, with footage of a dog attacking multiple people in Birmingham going viral and prompting calls to ban the breed in the UK, an idea that Home Secretary Suella Braverman seems to back.
Emma Whitfield’s son Jack was mauled to death by an XL Bully almost two years ago, with the mum forced to identify her 10-year-old son by his shoe after the attack. Jack suffered fatal injuries whilst at a friend’s house in Caerphilly, South Wales when a seven stone XL Bully called Beast attacked him.
Emma says she’s furious the Home Secretary has only just woken up to the ‘crazy’ number of dog attacks in the UK, blasting the Government’s failure to act sooner. She asks:
Where were you when my son was killed?
To stop this plague of dog attacks, banning XL Bullies is not enough – we have to go further, we have to go deeper. They can’t just stop there. As soon as they say it’s banned then people are just going to move onto something else.
Please don’t stop at just banning the bully because action is also urgently needed against the backyard breeders and the dangerous and irresponsible owners. The ones who are abusing the dogs, those over breeding, the ones just turning out litter after litter for money with no concerns for the dogs’ welfare.
I think banning the XL Bully would have to be the first step in changing the law but they have to tackle the backyard breeders too. It is crucial they look at tackling the whole picture – not just not part of it.
There have been 17 fatal dog attacks in the UK since Emma’s son was killed in November 2021. It’s believed ten were bully-type dogs. The lack of government action has left Emma understandably frustrated:
It’s crazy how this video has gone viral and now politicians are coming out of the woodwork saying how bad it is. Where were you when my son was killed? The attack on my son plays over in my head day in and day out. Where were you when other innocent people were killed? Where were you when I was at Parliament asking for change? Nowhere. If you’re going to do something please do it.
Action is needed not talk. They need to stop pussy-footing around. It’s frustrating that it has taken this long for them to say something where before now they’ve kept pretty quiet.
I know they expressed condolences to me but condolences mean nothing if they are not going to step up and do something. Stop pushing it to one side and think the problem is going to go away because it’s only going to get worse.
Can’t argue with that really. I know people say that it’s all down to the owner and not the dog itself, but we have to accept that some dogs are more prone to violence than others, and it’s one thing if it’s annoying little Jack Russell nipping at your ankles and quite another when it’s a 70kg beast ripping you to shreds. It’s simply not possible to properly regulate breeders and dog owners to ensure that they are properly training and socialising this type of dog.
It does appear like the government will finally do something this time though, and that’s thanks to the Birmingham video going viral this week and forcing everyone to talk about it. Let’s hope that any dangerous dog owner out there keeps their pet on a tight lease until then.
