High Court Dismisses Majority of XL Bully Ban Challenge

Campaigners have largely been unsuccessful in a High Court challenge concerning the XL bully ban in England and Wales. Sophie Coulthard and the campaign group Don’t Ban Me, Licence Me initiated legal action against the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) over its decision to include the American XL bully breed on a prohibited list under the Dangerous Dogs Act. The campaigners contended that the ban was unlawful, asserting it was founded on “unreliable” material, lacked a “proper” analysis of its impact, and contained “vague” standards. Mrs Justice Beverley Lang dismissed most of the legal challenge, stating that there was “sufficient evidence of an alarmingly high level of fatal attacks” by XL bullies or XL bully crossbreeds. The government’s prohibition, which became fully effective in February, made owning an XL bully dog illegal without an exemption. Breeding, selling, advertising, rehoming, abandoning, and allowing an American bully XL dog to stray are also unlawful. However, Ms Coulthard, an XL bully owner from south-west London, had previously stated her opposition to the ban on the dog breed, arguing it would “only affect responsible bully owners.” In a judgement, Mrs Justice Lang noted that Defra had considered issues including defining the correct types of dog and the human impacts of euthanasia. “In my view, it was rational for the defendant to assess and act upon the available evidence on dog attacks and fatalities,” she continued. She further added that “it was not necessary” for Defra to interrogate each reported dog attack or fatality for verification, nor to delay changing the law “until an official definition of the XL Bully was prepared.” Mrs Justice Lang also stated that data for 11 deaths between January 2020 and September 2023 had been presented to her at the hearing. “Suffice it to say that, even excluding those cases where there was legitimate doubt as to whether an XL Bully was involved, there was sufficient evidence of an alarmingly high level of fatal attacks by XL bullies or XL bullies crossbreeds to justify the defendant’s concerns,” she said. The campaigners did achieve success on one point of their challenge, with the judge determining that the government failed to comply with public sector equality rules in assessments conducted in September and October 2023. However, Mrs Justice Lang stated she would not order any changes to be made following a “comprehensive” and lawful quality assessment completed in May 2024. She said: “It is highly likely that the outcome for the claimants would not have been substantially different if the conduct complained of had not occurred.”