A Yorkshire teenager feared she was going to die after being mauled by a 50kg rescue XL Bully whilst working at an animal shelter.
Gilana Milner, 19, from Wakefield, was the victim of a savage attack which left her hospitalised and left with serious injuries to her leg and chest, which required emergency surgery.
Due to developing an infection from the dog bites, Gilana also nearly lost her leg. But despite the trauma she endured, she has spoken out against a ban on the breed.
The attack, at a rescue centre where animal lover Gilana worked, lasted for five terrifying minutes.
Gilana Milner was hospitalised following the attack
GB News
"I thought he [Hugo, the XL Bully] was going to bite me and let go, like you see with everyone else but work when we've all got bitten at some point. But he never actually let go," Gilana told GB News.
"So then it took a second to realise you're probably going to die, and then you can't really feel the pain of it. You can just feel like the sensation of him biting you. I was watching him bite me. I couldn't do anything.
"All I could think about was my mum at the moment, the people that I loved. I don't know, I never really I've never really thought about dying like that before."
The attack happened in May 2023 whilst then 18-year-old Gilana was changing the dog's water bowl in his kennel.
He bit her multiple times and refused to unclamp his jaws, until staff at the rescue centre eventually got the dog to release with the use of a special bite-back spray.
The assault has left Gilana with permanent nerve damage and emotional trauma, which she is receiving therapy for.
She also has hypersensitivity in parts of her legs so it hurts to be touched, and numbness in other areas.
Gilana told GB News: "I can wake up throughout the night with a dream that a dog's just latched onto me, or bitten me or anything like that, and I'd wake up hyperventilating.
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Due to developing an infection from the dog bites, Gilana also nearly lost her leg
GB News
"There's moments where I'm on the street and I see, like, a Bully or something, and it plays in my mind again about what happened.
"I went to go see this lady with a big fancy name, and she said that, I have this thing where it's like a survival instinct, that's located in the back of a brain, and it's never going to go away.
"I'm always thinking about how I'm going to die in a situation."
An XL bully is the largest kind of American bully dog. The UK government published guidance to help identify XL bullies,, external which are not recognised as a specific breed.
They are described as large dogs "with a muscular body and blocky head, suggesting great strength and power for [their] size".
Male XL dogs stand from 20in (51cm) high at the shoulder, with female XLs only slightly smaller.
It's against the law to sell, give away, abandon, or breed from an Excel bully, an illegal to own, an XL bully without an exemption certificate.
But despite what she went through, Gilana disagrees with the ban on the breed. It's her dream to continue to work with animals and she refuses to let her ordeal stop her.
She also has hypersensitivity in parts of her legs so it hurts to be touched, and numbness in other areas
GB News
"I think they should all be given a chance and shouldn't be put to sleep just because they are XLs," Gilana said.
"That's discrimination in a way. Some people think it's just in the brain and it's just like bred into them.
"There's like a big debate about it, which I suppose to some level could be true. But then again, it's I think the biggest impact is how they're brought up as a dog and the trauma that they've been through."
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, there were 16 deaths as a result of dog attacks in the first nine months of 2023, compared to six in the whole of 2022.
However, official figures do not break down the number of attacks or deaths by type of dog.
When the previous government announced the XL bully ban for England and Wales in late 2023, it said the breed had been "disproportionately involved" in deaths recorded since 2021.
Police can seize unregistered prohibited dogs, and their owners face up to six months in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
