XL Bully dog owners to hold mass meet up in protest at 'discrimination' against breed

Group founder Nicky Crowe talked up the event online, saying it would let owners "show our support as a community for this beautiful breed and to those who may feel isolated with the XL bully ban which has affected all bullies in some way".

The event, at beach hotspot Hengistbury Head, has been marketed to XL Bully owners as an "amazing opportunity to get your fur babies out for an amazing afternoon of fun".

Legal restrictions were imposed on XL Bully dogs earlier this year following a spate of fatal incidents across the country.

But Crowe has slammed the "discrimination" the dangerous breed faces.

Speaking to the Bournemouth Echo, the group founder said: "We've had a bully play-date for six years and it's been shocking what's happened and how one breed can be discriminated against.

"We want to show our support to the bullies on the group because we do feel people have been unsure if they can post a picture of their bully because they're getting a lot of abuse.

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"It's become isolating when you have a breed that has a bad reputation - rightly or wrongly."

Crowe said she believes the XL Bully dogs are the victims of breed-based witch-hunts, which she said she "didn't understand" because dogs "do so much for us".

"To make it legal to muzzle a breed, no matter its temperament, and keep it on a lead is a huge violation of freedoms," she added.

The news of the Bully meet-up comes mere days after a woman was mauled to death by the breed in her home in Hornchurch, East London.

The dogs' owner, a woman in her 50s, had been viciously attacked by the registered Bullies - and though police, paramedics and the air ambulance were dispatched, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Since February 1, it has been an offence to sell, abandon, give away, breed, or walk an unleashed and unmuzzled XL Bully dog in England and Wales, with Scotland imposing the same legislation on February 23.

Nearly 40,000 XL Bully dogs are thought to still be on Britain’s streets despite a ban on the breed being introduced - according to the banned breeds register, some 38,424 dogs were granted the £92 exemption to avoid being put down.

Estimates suggest there have been over 25 deaths linked to the breed since 2021.