American XL bully dogs are now officially banned – with offences established to outlaw the sale, breeding and giving away of the dogs and walking them off-lead.
The ban was promised by prime minister Rishi Sunak following a spate of high-profile attacks earlier this year including the savaging of an 11-year-old girl and the death of a man in Staffordshire at the hands of two of the dangerous dogs.
Defra says that under the new rules, which come into effect from December 31, it will be illegal to ‘breed, sell, advertise, exchange, gift, rehome, abandon or allow XL Bully dogs to stray’ in England and Wales.
From the same date, existing XL Bully owners must keep their dogs on a lead and muzzled in public; the government is advising people to start training their dogs to wear a muzzle and walk on a lead comfortably, if they aren’t already trained.
And from February 1, owning an XL Bully will be outlawed altogether unless owners register their animal on the Index of Exempted Dogs. The government says it has ‘staggered’ the dates to give existing owners time to prepare for the laws to come in.
Hellbound and Down 