A man has been charged after a toddler was mauled by what is believed to be an XL Bully dog in south east London.
Emergency services rushed to Catherine Grove, in Greenwich, at 10.10am on Monday morning after reports a child had been hurt by the animal.
Paramedics then rushed the 20-month-old to hospital, where their injuries were found not to be life-threatening or life-changing.
The Metropolitan Police says it has since located the dog and its owner, who was arrested by officers and has since been charged.
It added that the dog, which was reported to be an XL Bully but requires further tests to confirm this, has been seized and placed in kennels.
Police were called to Catherine Grove (pictured) in Greenwich on Monday morning after a child was attacked by a dog
A police spokesperson said today: ‘On Tuesday, October 3, Thomas Ackah, of Old Kent Road, SE1, was charged with being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog.
‘He is due to appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, 3 October.’
It comes after Rishi Sunak vowed to ban Bully XL dogs following a number of high profile cases, including the deaths of children, that involved the breed.
Last month a man died after a suspected Bully XL attack in Stonnall, Staffordshire, the third incident involving allegedly out-of-control dogs in the West Midlands in less than a week.
The fatality occurred just a day after a ten-year-old boy was attacked by an out-of-control dog while playing football less than three miles away. Less than a week earlier, an XL Bully mauled an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham.
According to NHS data there were a record 9,424 hospital admissions from dog attacks for 2022, a number that has risen by a third in a decade.
The XL Bully has been behind the majority of fatal dog attacks in the UK since 2021, being responsible for ten out of 14 of the fatal attacks.
Rishi Sunak has described American Bully XLs as ‘a danger to our communities, particularly our children’.
Mr Sunak said he has ordered ministers to convene a panel of experts, including the police, to define the breed so it can then be outlawed.
‘The American XL Bully dog is a danger to our communities, particularly our children,’ he said.
‘I share the nation’s horror at the recent videos we’ve all seen. Yesterday we saw another suspected XL Bully dog attack, which has tragically led to a fatality.
‘It’s clear this is not about a handful of badly trained dogs: it’s a pattern of behaviour and it cannot go on.
New NHS data has revealed that there was a record number of dog attacks in the UK last year. Pictured: American XL Bully dog. The breed will be banned in the UK by the end of the year
‘While owners already have a responsibility to keep their dogs under control, I want to reassure people that we are urgently working on ways to stop these attacks and protect the public.
‘Today, I have tasked ministers to bring together police and experts to firstly define the breed of dog behind these attacks with a view to then outlawing it.
‘It is not currently a breed defined in law so this vital first step must happen fast.
‘We will then ban the breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act and new laws will be in place by the end of the year.’
While the ban has been welcomed by many, XL Bully owners have reacted angrily and rushed to defend their dogs.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
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