‘Muzzle Rishi, Not Me’: Inside an XL Bully Protest

Following a string of violent dog attacks, British prime minister Rishi Sunak announced a ban of the breed, starting with mandatory muzzling for any bullies out in public.

This sparked a wave of fairly impressive Photoshop jobs, people wearing muzzles in solidarity with XLs, parody raps, one guy driving 30 dogs to safety in Scotland – where the ban doesn't exist – and, weirdly, loads of spoken word poetry.

It's now illegal to breed, sell or rehome XL Bullies, and from the 1st of February it'll be illegal to own a Bully without an exemption certificate – and to get that you'll need to get your dog microchipped, spayed or neutered, and get third party insurance.

Unfortunately, because none of that is cheap, some owners have just abandoned their dogs, and in one tragic case an XL Bully was found burnt and mutilated in a south London alleyway just before the ban came in.

Any dogs that aren't registered by February will have to be euthanised under the ban – but some vets have already said they'll refuse to put healthy dogs down.

At a protest in Manchester this weekend, demonstrators made the same argument they've been making since XL bully attacks started making the news last year.  "It's all down to the owners,” owner Elaine Atkinson told VICE, “not the dogs."

Some, like owner Holly Walters, brought roses with them to honour the dogs that have already been put to sleep. “The roses represent each dog that has been put down and the dogs that are yet to be killed,” Walters said, “because they are being killed; it is murder.”

Unfortunately for the protesters, it's unlikely Rishi's going to U-turn: According to a YouGov poll, the British public overwhelmingly supports the ban, and 42 percent believe “American XL Bully dogs are inherently aggressive and remain a significant risk regardless of how responsible owners are”.

In even worse news for literally everyone, since the ban was announced there's been a 36 percent increase in searches for Cane Corsos – an incredibly powerful dog breed that can potentially do a lot of damage if they become aggressive.

Scroll through for more pictures from the weekend’s protest.