GMP top league for seized dogs after new XL bully laws

A year on since the government announced the XL bully ban research has revealed Greater Manchester Police as having seized the most dogs. An average of 19 dogs per week were seized by the force in the last 12 months.

The government declared in October 2023 American XL bully dogs were to be added to the list of banned dog breeds. New rules came into force on December 31. From that date, it was illegal to breed, sell, advertise, exchange, rehome, abandon or allow XL bully dogs to stray in England and Wales. They must also be kept on a lead and muzzled in public.

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From February 1st this year, it will be illegal to own an XL bully dog unless it is is on an exempt list, called the Index of Exempted Dogs. Those who wanted to keep their dogs had until the end of January this year to register them with the exempt list.

Now in responding to a Freedom of Information request GMP has revealed that since November 2023 it has seized 1000 dogs, just over 19 a week on average. Of those seized 337 were put down.

The figures were acquired by Puppies.co.uk to whom 27 of the forces in the UK responded out of 45. They established that across the UK 114 dogs were seized each week. The highest number of dogs seized per week after GMP was West Midlands (17), followed by Northumbria (9); West Yorkshire (8); and Leicestershire (6).

A police force issued an 'unreserved apology' to a family last month after their pet XL Bully dog was put down by mistake. Lancashire Police said the dog, named Bruno, was put down due to an "administration error". The force euthanised the seized dog while the owners were in the process