The home secretary is seeking "urgent advice" about banning American XL Bully dogs as footage shows one of the animals attacking an 11-year-old girl and a man in Birmingham. Suella Braverman has said the animals are a "clear and lethal" danger after the video of the attack in Bordesley Green emerged on the social media platform TikTok. West Midlands Police are investigating after two men, who were bitten and left with injuries to their shoulders and arms, were taken to hospital to be treated for their injuries after the incident on Saturday.
Cultural question to Brits as this happened in UK. Do people care if their dog attacks someone or is highly agressive to humans in UK?
By what I’ve heard from my friends, dog owners often put the blame on attacked/harassed passers-by, they don’t feel accountable for their wrongdoings (i.e. not using leash and not paying attention to where their dog is and what is it doing).
If you live around the estates and poorer areas you can find lots of people with big dogs cooped up in small flats (apartments). There is a culture now of “my dog has rights” or “I can do what I want” whenever these people are challenged about their abusive or neglectful behaviour. The Police used to tackle these owners but gave up caring years ago (they did the same with traffic and as with dog attacks the KSIs have massively risen there too).
If someone does get bitten most owners do tend to blame the victim in my experience. “You shouted/waved your arms/ran!” etc etc.
Thanks for the feedback. This is exactly what I’ve been hearing from friends that had problems with dogs in UK. They usually described this issue as dog having more rights to do whatever it wants than people.