Colchester residents react to XL Bully seizure stats

Essex Police has revealed via a freedom of information request that 33 XL Bullies have been destroyed by the force this year, 20 more than the previous year.

Alongside this, 74 XL Bullies were seized under investigation by Essex Police in the first six months of this year, a rise from 29 in 2023.

Just eight of the banned breed were seized in 2022, and zero in 2020, the FOI has revealed.

The ban came into effect at the start of February, owning an unregistered XL Bully was made a criminal offence and can resort in the dog owner receiving a criminal record and fine.

Pet - an XL Bully in a field (Image: PA)

It also includes breeding, selling, advertising, exchanging, gifting, rehoming, abandoning, or allowing XL Bully-type dogs to be strays on the street.

The new rules came after a rise in attacks from the XL Bullies, where 23 individuals died as a result over the last three years.

Dog lover Saffron Davis, 26, of Porters Close, Colchester, is an avid campaigner who believes the XL Bully ban is not right.

She previously spoke to The Gazette and said the ban will “cause a lot of strain” for dog owners.

Reacting to the rise in XL Bullies seizures, Saffron claims it won’t deter breeding them.

Dog lover - Saffron and her dog, Nanna (Image: Public)

She said: "It just shows how drastically the numbers have jumped from 8 dogs in 2022 to 74 in 2024.

"The ban won’t work look at how many attacks that have already happened since the ban had been set into place.

"The breeding will just go underground, there are more pit bulls in this country now than there ever was in 1991.

"It’s the backyard breeders which have destroyed yet another beautiful breed, what dog breed are they going to ban next."

Gazette readers have now shared their thoughts on the latest information from the FOI request.

Marc Humphreys said: “It's how the dogs are kept owned and raised from pups long term that is the route of the problems , not the dogs.”

Tracey Luff-Johnson is adamant that the dogs aren’t the problem, and it is people who are the issue.

She said: “Regardless of the temperament and personality or the training the dog had received, it gets a blanket sentence of death.

Canine - another image of a XL Bully (Image: Wikimedia)

“I stand by my earlier comments there are no one breed of dog that is so inherently aggressive and dangerous, the issue is the people who fail to train them and treat them badly.”

Missed - Esther Martin's death has left Jaywick's community shocked (Image: Essex Police/PA)

Back in February, 68-year-old Ester Martin, from Jaywick, was killed by two XL Bullies whilst visiting her grandson.

A 39-year-old man arrested in connection with her has been re-bailed until July 14.

In May, a woman in her 50s, was also fatally attacked by two XL Bullies, in Hornchurch.