New measures to be in place for Teesside XL Bully owners from tomorrow
The dogs must be on a lead and muzzled in public
Owners of American XL Bully dog in Teesside and North Yorkshire must keep their pets on a lead and muzzled when they are out and about from tomorrow.
Breeding, giveaway or even abandoning the breed will be illegal and people have until the end of January to apply for an exemption to have one.
Jane Galliford, co-founder of Maxi's Mates Rescue and Rehoming Centre for dogs in Guisborough, said: "It's an exemption. The police will be aware so you'd need not to worry about anybody reporting your dog as a banned dog, but to surrender or rehome your dog on to somebody else could go through the stray sytem. You're jeopardising that dog's life. Please whatever it is that you do, you've bought that dog as a puppy. Please keep this dog safe.
"At our rescue, we don't put our dogs down but the Government is placing us in an impossible position. We can't possibly keep these XL Bullies that will come in by the end of December or continue to do that next year. We can't operate as a functioning rehoming kennels with dogs that can never be rehomed.
"I'm appalled at the Government for allowing rescues to have to do this and have blood on their hands, when they're saying you can apply for an exemption but we can't keep these dogs so what choice do we have? So really, really disappointed by the Government and the law.
"We can't help the genuine strays, the rehomeable dogs if we have a kennel full of XL Bullies and we aren't a sanctuary. It's not the dog's fault, it's the owner. The type of person that will have these XL Bullies that will cause problems will just go out and get another breed. You're not going to stop it."