A man from the United Kingdom is fighting to save the life of the dog that attacked him when he began having intimate relations with his girlfriend.
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In early August, Scott Thurston, 32, was at his home in Glanaman, Wales, when he argued with his girlfriend. They then became intimate, and it was then that the 2-year-old dog, Hank, attacked him.
Thurston suffered bites on his left arm and chin but declined medical treatment. The American Bully XL breed dog was seized by the police a few weeks later and is being held at a local kennel pending a hearing for possible euthanasia.
A local court ordered Hank’s euthanasia this week, allowing 28 days for appeal. Thurston stated that he will fight to keep the pet despite the breed ban in the United Kingdom.
It was Thurston’s girlfriend who called the police on August 2. “I’ve got four kids, I love the dog, but I can’t have him around my kids,” she told the police at the time.
There was “a real potential for the incident to be far worse,” according to a police representative. “Next time it might not be a small bite to him, it might be to one of the children,” they told the court.
The American Bully XL will be banned by the UK government at the end of 2023. Dogs of this breed have been associated with a series of severe and even fatal attacks in recent years, according to the campaign group Bully Watch.
Of the ten fatal dog attacks last year, six were caused by the breed. So, starting from February 1, 2024, it will be a crime to possess an American Bully XL in England and Wales unless an exemption is granted to the owner.
