AIBU to feel sorry for the 100 dogs a month destroyed since the XL Bully ban

You've prioritised posting about it on MN just as the OP has!

I just don’t understand threads like these. Of ALL the shit that is going on in the world to innocent sentient human beings why would your heart bleed over XL bully horrors? Also, do you eat meat? Millions and trillions of animals are killed daily. Jeez please reflect on your priorities in life.

What’s clear from the statistics is that although the XL bully ban hasn’t reduced the number of fatalities (yet), it has reduced the number of public attacks and fatalities.
Pretty much all the deaths from XL bullies this year have been the owners, or friends/family of the owners, in private dwellings
The muzzle/lead restrictions do seem to be saving innocent members of the public.
Hopefully this continues.

Is there a pathway back to dog licenses?
I think we need to change the way dog ownership is seen in our culture; it is a serious commitment, would be owners should demonstrate that they understand this & will do the necessary. Etc.
But I stuggle to see this ever coming to pass. Dogs are seen as fun accesories, we amuse & indulge ourselves by pretending that they are quasi human/mini-mes.

And there are profits to be made facilitating this- those who benefit financially will fight to keep the income stream flowing.

Or how many farm animals die to feed the XL Bullies.
I don't think that this breed should exist. I had German Sheperds, they wore harnesses and if necessary, I could pick them up. Not they ever needed to be picked up. However it's the back yard breeders that really need tackling, but no government has had the will to. At the start of the XL bully attacks, the sentences were way too low.

I wish the authorities near me would step up and get on with the culling. A neighbour with young children has an XL, it's known that it isn't 'exempt', police have been informed, nothing is done. I dread the day it rips off someone's face and if it does, god forbid, I hope it is one of the adults and not the kids it happens to. Makes me sick to think about.

There's a difference between feeling sad about an avoidable shit show and supporting that shit show continuing...

The OP isn't saying they think the dogs should live. They're just sad things got to this point. The dogs shouldn't have been bred to behave like this in the first place.

Of course YABU. I can't believe you even have to ask.

These dogs are dangerous beasts, owned by the worst people in society.

I do feel sorry for them. As a general rule, I only support killing animals out of necessity - so for food, for pest control, for safety. Not for sport and certainly not just because they happened to be born.

The dogs are just doing what they're supposed to do. I can both 100% support putting them down and feel sad that they are being killed for reasons that aren't their fault.

I'm mostly angry at the breeders and the owners who created a market for these dogs. I'm also annoyed with the government - probably the last one - because it's patently obvious that no one should ever have been permitted to own one of these dogs without a special licence involving special training. It's really chilling to think it was ever acceptable for a random person to buy one of these dogs as a first pet and keep it in a family home with babies and young kids.

The situation is sad in its own right, and the situation is even sadder because it was avoidable. These dogs didn't become dangerous overnight - they've been bred for generations to become killing machines.

No. Not sorry. There's something clearly very wrong with this breed. They've literally mauled so, so many people. Something is very wrong.

Yep!

I'd rather the breeders were put down .

This!

It's also an odd argument to be making unless you're vegan tbh. Farm animals are sentient beings, yet no one bats an eyelid about male chicks being macerated, horrid breeding practices of cows and chickens, etc

See, I don't understand this. You can be a meat eater, and be against cruelty.
I eat meat, and I am a paid up member of the Hunt Sabs.
It is like saying if you eat meat, then you must be ok with all the unjustified atrocities that happen to animals... and that you are not allowed to be upset by any of it.

Fuck that. Utter bollocks. They are monsters. There is nothing sweet about any of them.

that's just it, they're the sweetest dogs ever, until they're not.. and the moment they're not, be it illness, pain, anxiety, reactivity or whatever causes them to snap, you have a seriously injured or potentially dead person.

Everyone knows dogs are unpredictable, why the ever loving fuck would you want one that has the very real risk of killing you or a family member when the worst happens?

You are a lone voice and you are incorrect.

I feel incredibly sorry for these dogs as they're a tragic consequence of human cruelty, but they are a danger to society. I'm not sure there's another solution. You couldn't safely house them all in kennels to live out their days, as that's equally as cruel and I assume they'd get pent up from lack of adequate space and exercise. I'd argue that's even crueler.

It's also an odd argument to be making unless you're vegan tbh. Farm animals are sentient beings, yet no one bats an eyelid about male chicks being macerated, horrid breeding practices of cows and chickens, etc.

Good, it must be a local authority thing here, we don't have it as a 'job' as such and the practical stuff is done by RSPCA and dog's home.

The thing is, compared to very expensive things such as social care etc., employing two dog wardens would cost less than £100K/year, a drop in the ocean in the overall council budget here (Northern City) but if it saves just one life...

Dogs like XL bullies should never have existed in the first place. Good riddance.

Yes there are still dog wardens in some areas of the U.K.

Also to fine people for not picking up poo. So many signs everywhere about it, but has anyone actually ever been fined?

Part of my job means I am involved in enforcing the XL Bully ban and have been responsible for the euthanising of many.

I do my job because I love dogs, not because I want to see them killed. But when you have been in the presence of as many XL bullies as I have, the sheer power behind them is quite terrifying.
Even the ones that are super friendly and licking your face, never put a foot wrong. You know, and have seen, the potential damage they can cause, and you know they have to be destroyed.

I have empathy for the dog owners who have lost their beloved pets. I love dogs more than people. But we don’t put dog lives above human lives.

Of course you're not. I know three people with xls and the dogs are the sweetest dogs ever. The whole thing is an uneccessary travesty.

Not in my area, not sure about anywhere else (UK). Our council has a website and dog issues are dealt with via environmental health people. But there are no uniformed dog wardens and if a dog needs containing and collecting its the police, RSPCA and dog's home staff.

We need a uniformed PCSO-style role with the power to fine, issue warnings, take dogs away, etc., plus perhaps a discount or even free muzzle for licenced dogs.