These are just some of the London dog owners who got it badly wrong in the last few years
Dog attacks are on the rise in London, with 22 per cent more in 2023 than 2022, police data shows. In 2021 there were 2,267 attacks, rising to 2,776 in 2022, and 3,389 in 2023. The signficant increase has come at a time of greater public awareness about incidents involving dangerous dogs, especially the XL Bully breed, which became a restricted breed at the turn of the year.
In total there were over 8,400 dog attacks were recorded in the capital between 2021 and 2023, according to data obtained by the Evening Standard. Meanwhile, national data from NHS Digital shows there has been an increase in the number of hospital admissions for dog bites over the past 10 years, with 9,277 admissions in 2022-23, up 47 per cent from 6,317 in 2012-13, reports Canine Times.
The data includes an XL Bully attack on a woman in Belvedere in November 2023. The dog had to be tasered and the woman was left fighting for her life after it savaged her inside a house. More recently, four people were rushed to hospital after an XL Bully attack in Battersea in March this year, and a woman in Havering was mauled to death by her own XL Bully dogs just last month May.
Some defenders have said the XL Bully is unfairly maligned, but when announcing its ban the Government said the breed was ‘ ‘disproportionately involved’ in deaths recorded since 2021. While there is no official data for the dog breed behind the deaths, campaigners say the breed is responsible for 70 per cent of dog deaths and 50 per cent of human deaths in this time.
MyLondon has reported on attacks at the scene, interviewed victims, and followed the owners to court. While the new law against XL Bully’s may have put some off owning them, there are still questions over enforcement and the dangers presented by dogs of every breed in the care of useless owners. Here are just some of those owners who went to jail or got a ticking off from the judge.
