Mum Comes Home To Find 10-Year-Old Daughter Killed By Family’s XL Bully
We’ve had a nice, long break from hearing about XL Bullies mauling people to death in the UK, but unfortunately it’s back in the news cycle after a mum returned home to find her 10-year-old daughter had been fatally attacked by the family dog.
Savannah Bentham had been left alone watching TV with the six-year-old pet, named Biggie, when she was attacked by the dog in East Heslerton, in North Yorkshire, last November.
Her mum Tracey had popped out to fix a faulty gas canister connection at their static caravan home, and the girl’s dad was at work. XL Bully, caravan, confined space, unattended child? What could possibly go wrong?
When Tracey returned home, she found Savannah lying in the foetal position and Biggie covered in blood.
The dog was locked in a car as members of the public and then paramedics tried to resuscitate the girl, but it was too late, and she died at the scene.
An inquest found that there was no evidence Biggie had ever behaved aggressively before, and that the family had completed all the requirements to continue owning Biggie after the XL Bully ban was brought in.
This included obtaining an exemption certificate, registering him with a vet, having him chipped and neutered, and wearing a muzzle in public.
Until the attack, there hadn’t been ‘any cause for concern’ and Biggie was described as a ‘lazy dog’.
Det Chief Insp Wilkinson told the inquest: ‘There’s never been any incident in relation to the dog in the family home as far as the inquiry determined.
‘When they returned back to the caravan they could see that Biggie had attacked Savannah and, consequently, the emergency services were called.’
Sensibly, Biggie was put down following the attack. A post-mortem on the dog found no ‘physical or pathological alterations’ that would have caused a ‘burst of aggression’
And so, people are once again debating whether it’s the dog that’s at fault or how the dog is raised. XL Bullies are responsible for 3/4 of the last 20 dog deaths in the UK, so surely there has to be something to that. We often hear about how lovely the dog was and how they’ve never done anything like this before, but apparently there’s something about the breed that can cause it to snap and behave aggressively out of nowhere, without provocation. It’s hardwired into them the same way a border collie will try and herd virtually anything.
Of course, many dog breeds can switch out of nowhere, but the size and strength of XL Bullies in particular makes them extra dangerous. They go for the neck and clamp their jaws down, and at that point it’s basically game over.
RIP young Savannah and thoughts with her family and friends.
For the man who was attacked by an XL Bully days after defending the breed on social media, click HERE. Whoops.
