Fears canine merchants are shopping for XL Bullys to assert £200 compensation

A number one animal rehoming centre says it has imposed a minimal value on the re-selling of XL Bully canines forward of the pets being banned — amid fears that merciless merchants are snapping up the pups for pennies to revenue from their euthanasia.

Pets4Homes says it is not going to enable house owners of the breed, which has been linked to swathes of assaults and fatalities throughout the UK, to promote their canines for lower than the £200 the federal government can pay out to house owners who elect to have their pets put down.

It says it has instigated the coverage amid fears that merchants are exploiting house owners’ refusal to place down their canines for money. MailOnline reported immediately how house owners are abandoning canines and even sending them to Scotland to provide them an opportunity at life. 

From December 31, it will likely be unlawful to desert, promote or rehome XL Bully canines after the crossbreed, which is derived from the banned American Pit Bull Terrier, was added to the listing of types banned by the Dangerous Dogs Act.

As the deadline attracts nearer, house owners have been scrambling to get assist from on-line communities to spare their canines from demise – regardless of analysis suggesting the canines are behind a disproportionate variety of assaults throughout the UK.

Adverts on Pets4Homes are providing the canines for lower than £200, probably giving anybody who snaps up the canine and elects to place it down a revenue from the federal government compensation

A shelter based mostly in Rotherham known as Helping Yorkshire Poundies shared pictures of 11 XL Bully puppies (pictured) in a determined enchantment to seek out them new houses forward of the ban 

Dogs have reportedly been deserted within the streets by house owners who can not preserve their pets or have been unable to place them down (pictured: a suspected XL Bully kind believed to be deserted in Harlow, Essex)

XL Bully kind canines have been linked to a spate of assaults this yr (pictured: a Bully-esque canine assault in Mansfield earlier this month)

Campaigners have sought to assert that XL Bully canines are protected – however Bully kind animals have been linked to a number of deadly assaults within the final three years (pictured: an anti-ban rally in London in September)

Pets4Homes mentioned it had grown involved at closely discounted adverts on its platform within the weeks following the announcement of the ban in September.

Most adverts don’t allude to the approaching ban, with house owners as an alternative claiming they ‘don’t have the area’ or need to rehome their pets ‘as a consequence of work commitments’.

One Pets4Homes itemizing supplied an XL Bully in Walsall, West Midlands for £10, claiming the animal needed to given away as a consequence of ‘private circumstances’.

Another learn: ‘She has to go to an excellent dwelling. Home is extra necessary than cash.’

The value speaks to the canine’s plummeting recognition, and the desperation of homeowners, because the ban looms. At their peak, XL Bully puppies may bought for a whole bunch if not hundreds of kilos at a time.

Earlier on-line adverts seen by MailOnline, shortly after the ban was introduced, continued to supply bullies for rehoming for upwards of £500. 

Anyone who has an XL Bully put down is eligible to assert £200 compensation from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) after submitting a kind that should be validated by the vet that administers the euthanasia therapy.

Some estimates counsel canines could be put down for as little as £50 – suggesting that twisted merchants may truly revenue from euthanising the canines en masse. 

Pets4Homes informed The Times that it had imposed the £200 minimal value ‘to make sure that there are not any makes an attempt made to buy animals in an effort to profit from the federal government compensation scheme for house owners’.

It added that this was ‘not a authorized requirement, however one which Pets4Homes voluntarily adopted to make sure the wellbeing of British animals’.

The categorised pet advert web site says it has seen curiosity in XL Bully kind canines plummet in latest weeks with the looming introduction of the ban, which additionally comes with a requirement for house owners to muzzle their canines in public.

Ian Price (left) and Ian Langley (proper) each died in suspected XL Bully canine assaults earlier in 2023

A ban on rehoming, breeding and promoting XL Bully canines comes into impact on December 31 this yr, with an outright ban on unregistered canines following a month later (inventory image)

A whole ban on folks proudly owning XL bullies will then come into drive on February 1, 2024, until the proprietor applies earlier than the top of January for an exemption

Between November 20 and 26 this yr, 79 XL Bully canines have been uploaded to the location on the market, down from 215 in the identical week in 2022.

However, MailOnline has discovered that determined house owners are persevering with to supply their canines at no cost elsewhere on-line – and in some circumstances are even overlaying the prices of sending XL Bully animals to their new companions.

Just this week, two XL Bully canines have been discovered seemingly deserted within the streets of Trerulefoot, southeast Cornwall, and needed to spend the Christmas interval caged up in kennels. 

Meanwhile, a shelter based mostly in Rotherham known as Helping Yorkshire Poundies shared pictures of 11 unclaimed XL Bully puppies in a determined enchantment to seek out them new houses forward of the ban.

Posts on social media from those that oppose the ban counsel that some house owners are even attempting to ‘cover’ their canines.

The ban on XL Bully kind canines was introduced following a spate of deadly and critical assaults within the UK earlier this yr.

Dogs that match sure bodily traits should be registered as an XL Bully on the Index of Exempted Dogs and neutered. Exemption certificates value £92.40 and require insurance coverage. 

Following the rehoming ban on December 31, an outright ban on holding the animals until they’re registered will come into impact on the finish of January. 

Among these to have been killed this yr have been Ian Price in Stonnall, Staffordshire in September, and Ian Langley in Sunderland in October.

XL Bullies have been additionally implicated int he deaths of ten-year-old Jack Lis in November 2021 and 17-month-old Bella-Rae Birch in March 2022. 

Campaign group Bully Watch claims Bully breeds, widespread on social media and adored by celebrities similar to rapper Drake and Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock, have been linked to 14 deadly assaults since 2021, and 351 assaults this yr alone. 

The Centre for Evidence-Based Regulation of Dangerous Dogs, a voluntary analysis group, estimates that XL Bully canines make up lower than one per cent of all UK canines, however have been liable for 44 per cent of assaults in 2023 and 75 per cent of deaths within the final three years, studies the Guardian.

However, there are considerations that enforcement of the brand new legislation will show tough for overstretched native authorities, vets and police forces.

MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee have written to Defra expressing ‘important considerations’ about its introduction.

In the letter, the committee mentioned it was notably involved concerning the potential of ‘frontline staff, together with the veterinary sector, police and native authorities’ to deal with imposing bans and placing canines to sleep.

And house owners attempting to do proper by the legislation by registering their canines at a price of £92 have spoken of their frustrations on the free authorized definition of the XL Bully itself, as it’s not a recognised Kennel Club breed.

The Dog Control Coalition (DCC) – a gaggle of animal organisations against the ban – says greater than 200 canines are nonetheless ready for a brand new dwelling at rescue shelters. They face being put down in the event that they can’t be rehomed earlier than December 31.

A spokesperson for the RSPCA, a member of the DCC, informed MailOnline earlier immediately: ‘Sadly not all the canines in our care are able to be rehomed earlier than the federal government deadline, as a consequence of behavioural or medical causes, and it is heartbreaking for the workers and volunteers who’ve been caring for them.’ 

Injuries and deaths after assaults by XL bully-type canines

Jonathan Halstead, 35

Jonathan Halstead, 35 – January 29, 2020

Jonathan died from a extreme neck damage and bites after being attacked in his dwelling in Oldham, Greater Manchester by his pet Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Bronson.

It is believed the canine attacked him when its proprietor suffered an epileptic match.

Jack Lis, 10

Jack Lis, 10 – November 8, 2021

Schoolboy Jack Lis, ten, suffered catastrophic accidents after being mauled by an American XL bully canine known as Beast whereas visiting a good friend’s dwelling in Penyrheol in Caerphilly, Wales on November 8, 2021.

Neighbours and Welsh Ambulance Service paramedics desperately tried to save lots of him however he died on the scene. Armed police destroyed the canine on web site.

Adam Watts, 55

Adam Watts, 55 – December 22, 2021 

Adam Watts, 55, was attacked on the Juniper Kennels and Cattery in Kirkton of Auchterhouse, close to Dundee, and was pronounced lifeless on the scene on December 22, 2021. 

MARCH 21, 2022: Undated household handout picture issued by Merseyside Police of Bella-Rae Birch

Bella-Rae Birch, 17 months – March 21, 2022

Toddler Bella-Rae Birch was attacked by her household’s pet American bully XL canine when she was simply 17 months previous.

The vicious canine snatched the kid out of her mom’s arms whereas they have been at their dwelling in Blackbrook, St Helens, Merseyside, on March 21 final yr.

Keven Jones, 62

Keven Jones, 62 – May 28, 2022

Keven Jones died after he was attacked by an American Bully XL canine in Wrexham, Wales on May 28 final yr.

Ambulance staff tried to save lots of him however they have been unable to cease his left leg bleeding.

Mr Jones was then pronounced lifeless at his son’s home following the assault. 

Joanne Robinson, 43

Joanne Robinson, 43 – July 15, 2022

Mother-of-two Joanne Robinson, 43, was killed by her American bully XL canine, Rocco, after it ‘turned mad within the excessive warmth’ in July final yr.

She died on the scene of the assault at dwelling in Rotherham, South Yorkshire whereas her associate, Jamie Stead, was left with accidents to his fingers, abdomen and face as he tried to drag the animal off her.

Joanne’s mom Dot, of Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire, revealed on the time that Rocco had beforehand fought with their different canine Lola – and he or she had warned her daughter to ‘do away with one in all them’.

Ian ‘Wiggy’ Symes, 34

Ian Symes, 34 – August 2022 

Ian ‘Wiggy’ Symes, 34, who is known to have been strolling a bully XL canine himself at a recreation floor in Fareham, Hampshire, died on the scene following a horrific canine assault in August 2022.

His devastated household mentioned he was ‘doing one thing he liked’ when he died within the discipline in Fareham, Hampshire.

Ann Dunn, 65

Ann Dunn, 65 – October 3, 2022

Ann Dunn, 65, was discovered collapsed with ‘catastrophic accidents’ at her Liverpool dwelling she shared with seven canines on October 3 final yr.

She was mauled to demise by canines together with an American bully XL – and had been despatched to hospital a yr earlier than her demise as a result of she had been bitten by a canine. 

Shirley Patrick, 83

Shirley Patrick, 83 – December 3, 2022

Widowed grandmother Shirley Patrick, 83, died after being viciously mauled by an XL bully in her own residence.

The retired nurse died in hospital 17 days after struggling ‘life-threatening accidents’ throughout the ‘hellish’ and ‘violent’ canine assault in Caerphilly, South Wales on December 3 final yr.

Jonathan Hogg, 37

Jonathan Hogg, 37 – May 18, 2023

Jonathan Hogg, 37, was mauled to demise by an American XL bully canine when it turned on him whereas he was taking care of it for a good friend.

He entered the pen when it went for him, leaving chunk wounds on his arm, leg and head, an inquest heard.

He was rushed to hospital however died of his accidents after the mauling in Leigh, Greater Manchester, on May 18 this yr.

Ian Price, 52

Ian Price, 52 – September 14, 2023

On Thursday, September 14, ‘pillar of the neighborhood’ Ian Price, 52, was attacked and killed by two ‘satan’ XL bully canines after they jumped out of his neighbour’s window in Stonnall, Staffordshire.

Mr Price was attacked and killed by the 2 canines which jumped out of a neighbour’s window yards from a major college. He reportedly died defending his aged mom from the animals.

The canines bit him and ripped the garments from his physique leaving him dying in a pool of blood in his boxer shorts within the horror assault simply ft from his dwelling.

Ian Langley, 54

Ian Langley, 54 – October 3, 2023

Ian Langley, 54, was set upon on the property in Sunderland on October 3 this yr by an unlimited XL bully canine which grabbed him by the neck as he bent down to choose up his Patterdale terrier pup.

The assault left Mr Langley needing CPR for round quarter-hour as emergency providers fought to cease heavy bleeding from his wounds. He died from his accidents.