Suella Braverman last night vowed to ban dangerous American XL Bully dogs after a crazed animal mauled a young girl before chasing and attacking two men who were trying to save her.
West Midlands Police have opened an investigation after the 11-year-old girl and two men who intervened were injured in the daylight attack in Birmingham on Saturday afternoon.
The Home Secretary said she had commissioned 'urgent advice' on outlawing the breed after the 'appalling' attack.
Ms Braverman and Policing Minister Chris Philp commissioned the advice last week, with it being the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' responsibility to add the breed to the banned list.
She said: 'This is appalling.
The American XL Bully is a clear and lethal danger to our communities, particularly to children.
A video circulating online which was taken from the top deck of a double-decker bus showed the rampage erupt
The dog sprints after another man, who is seen on the film wearing a while t-shirt and shorts
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she had commissioned 'urgent advice' on outlawing the breed after the 'appalling' attack
'We can't go on like this.
I have commissioned urgent advice on banning them.'
Email stewart.carr@mailonline.co.uk
The nightmare bite attack unfolded as the animal's owner was taking it for a walk on Saturday afternoon in Bordesley Green, Birmingham.
A video circulating online which was taken from the top deck of a double-decker bus showed the rampage erupt.
The little girl's arms was chomped on by the animal before a man managed to pull the dog off her.
She ran into a shop for safety as the XL Bully was held on the floor but it then managed to escape.
The dog sprints after another man, who is seen on the film wearing a while t-shirt and shorts.
He is chased onto a petrol station forecourt where he was attacked before the animal is hit and stops the attack.
Robert Buckland, the former Justice Secretary, backed Braverman's ban, adding that he has become 'deeply concerned' by the rise in bully dog attacks on people, pets and livestock.
An activists and dog breeders alike have claimed the breed are 'very reactive', 'incredibly powerful' and 'dangerous'.
Dog breeder Stan Rawlinson, 76, said there is 'something wrongly wired' in XL bully dogs and told the newspaper that he 'wouldn't go near one'. He said they are 'a danger to women, children and everyone else' and can 'open up your jugular veins almost immediately'.
Similarly, Elisa Allen, of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), said: 'It is an undeniable fact that most serious and fatal dog attacks are by bully breeds.'
With their 'hair-trigger response' and 'desire to kill', the muscular American Bully XLs are the 'fighters' of choice in this disturbing underworld, with experts saying the horrific levels of savagery displayed by the dogs are 'unnatural' and instilled in them through violent training and years of inbreeding.
Despite being outlawed in the UK almost 200 years ago, authorities have warned dog fighting in Britain is on the rise and these type of breeds are the first choice.
The muscular American Bully XLs can display 'unnatural' savagery because it had been instilled in them through violent training and years of inbreeding.
Bloodshed is now spilling out onto the UK's streets, with the animals responsible for the majority of fatal dog attacks since 2021 amid a boom in their popularity, with Bully XLs increasingly being used by celebrities as status symbols.
There is no suggestion the dog in this video was anything other than a pet.
On Sunday West Midlands Police launched an investigation into what went wrong.
A force spokesman said: 'We're investigating after three people were bitten by a dog in Birmingham yesterday.
'An 11-year-old girl ran past the dog as it was being walked by its owner in Bordesley Green, when she was bitten.
'Two men intervened but were bitten and left with injuries to their shoulders and arms.
'They were taken to hospital to be treated for their injuries.
'The dog was initially taken to a local vet to be checked over before being taken into secure kennels while the investigation continues.
'The owner of the dog has been spoken to by officers.'
This is the latest in a series of dog attacks in the hot weather.
As the mercury has been rising, so have the reports of killer canines setting upon victims including a woman who died after being mauled by Rottweilers and a number of children who have been scarred for life.
Emma Chandley, a practising vet with Perfect Pet Insurance, said that summer highs 'lower the thresholds for violence' in humans and animals, warning: 'Dogs are more likely to attack and bite in the warmer summer months.
As with humans, tensions tend to rise as the temperature does.
In a previous incident teaching assistant Katie Deere, 31, was with her own dog when she was suddenly set upon by an unsupervised bully XL breed
Miss Deere had already picked up her own dog out of concern for the loose aggressor, which ran across the road and clamped its jaws on her arm
'From my experience, dogs are more likely to bite on hotter days and days when the air pollution is higher,' she told the Daily Express.
Last week MailOnline exclusively revealed the rise of the Franken-Bully, a 'mutant' breed of the American Bully XL that some experts fear are 'too dangerous to live'.
Underground breeders are creating giant 'mutant crossbreeds' by mating banned pitbulls with legal mastiffs and bulldogs to evade dangerous dogs laws.
It comes amid fresh calls for XL Bullys to be banned in Britain after shocking data revealed the breed has been involved in the majority of fatal dog attacks in the UK since 2021.
Two in four deadly dog attacks in the UK in 2021 involved the XL bulldogs - rising to six in 10 in 2022, and fears there could be many more fatalities if urgent action isn't taken to stop the rise of the generically engineered American crosses from reaching Britain's shores.
She was rushed to hospital by ambulance, bleeding from wounds to both arms
Stitches on Miss Deere's arm.
She fears if the victim had been a child 'they would have been killed'
The mother was due to start a new job this month but is now recuperating and making twice weekly hospital visits
Severe injuries to Ms Deere's hand.
She described the attack as 'like an out-of-body experience'
In a previous incident teaching assistant Katie Deere, 31, was with her own dog when she was suddenly set upon by an unsupervised bully XL breed.
Miss Deere had already picked up her own dog out of concern for the loose aggressor, which ran across the road and clamped its jaws on her arm.
The quick-thinking single mother pushed the pushchair towards a passer-by who stopped to help and her own dog ran away.
But she was left at the mercy of the bully XL.
Thankfully a lorry driver who witnessed the attack stopped and bravely intervened – pulling the dog off her and calling for an ambulance.
She was rushed to hospital by ambulance, bleeding from wounds to both arms.
The traumatised victim later underwent five hours of surgery on her arms, including 50 stitches and repair to a finger that was partially amputated.
She is now recovering with relatives and an aunt who has set up an online fundraising appeal said they had discovered Miss Deere is 'not entitled to any sort of compensation or government help as the dog was uninsured and owned by a minor.'
The incident happened at 11am on August 17 in Askern, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
Meanwhile, tragedy struck yesterday when a woman, 40, died after two Rottweilers savaged her legs and arms when she tried to say help to them.
Rise of the 'Franken-Bully': Underground breeders are creating giant 'mutant crossbreeds' by mating banned pitbulls with legal mastiffs and bulldogs to evade dangerous dogs laws (file image)
Marie Stevens' nightmare unfolded on August 18 in Netherton in Merseyside.
She was rushed to hospital after the dogs pounced and had been discharged to go back home.
But she collapsed at her Brighton-le-Sands home on Sunday and was sadly pronounced dead.
Two in four deadly dog attacks in the UK in 2021 involved XL bulldogs - rising to six in 10 in 2022, including high-profile maulings that killed children Jack Lis, 10, and Bella-Rae Birch, aged 17 months.
So far in 2023, the dogs have fatally savaged two people - amid fears a third person, a four-year-old girl, could also have fallen victim.
It comes as shocking footage on social media has shown how the dogs chase down some of their victims, with one video in London capturing the moment one of the beasts tackles a screaming woman to the floor while it tears chunks of her flesh off.
Only this week it was revealed two Bully XLs were responsible for killing 22 pregnant sheep and injuring 48 others in a frenzied attack in Wales that forced a farmer to shoot both of the dogs.
Meanwhile, police forces across the UK say they are increasingly being called out to seize or destroy the animals - which shares the DNA with the banned American Pit Bull Terriers but that are not on Britain's list of dangerous dogs.
In July, horrifying footage showed the moment two police officers in South Yorkshire were attacked by a Bully XL, with the incident leading to a warning from one of the county's top cops, who said Britain could no longer 'ignore the fact that the XL bully breed is disproportionately represented in the number of dog attacks'.
The situation comes as Britain is gripped by an epidemic of dogfighting, with the RSPCA saying it has attended an average of 30 incidents a month this year.
Horrifying police body-worn camera footage shows the moment two officers in South Yorkshire were attacked by an American Bully XL
The dog can be seen mauling one of the officers in the footage, released by police in July of this year
While in London, one woman was filmed being attacked by a Bully XL as she screamed and begged for help as the beast dragged her to the floor
Pictures show how Bully XLs are forced to run on make-shift treadmills amid claims some of the animals are whipped or kicked by their owners to make them more aggressive.
And there is evidence of a low-level group of wannabe dogfighters obsessed with the culture of 'strong' dogs.
These animals may not take part in matches, but they are trained to be aggressive, risking injury to other pets and people.
Meanwhile, pictures on social media show how other owners are 'training' their dogs, letting the animals dangle from ropes by their teeth to strengthen their jaws and biting power.
Other owners appear to allow their animals to sink their teeth into tree branches as they while dangling in the air.
Dr Lawrence Newport, a law and criminology lecturer at Royal Holloway University recently published a detailed report on the Bully XL, and was worried by the trend.
He told MailOnline the dog's violent upbringing by savage owners had led to them having a 'hair trigger response' and a 'desire to kill'.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact police via Live Chat quoting log 3245 of 9/9.