XL Bully attack leaves woman hospitalised with 'serious bite injuries'

An XL Bully has left a woman with "serious dog bite injuries" requiring hospital treatment, police have said.

Lancashire Police have said a woman was rushed to hospital on Thursday after she was attacked by the dog in Fleetwood, Lancashire, at about 4.45pm. Neighbours raced to the scene to help and dragged the dog away, but not before it was able to inflict "serious" injuries to the woman's arm.

The woman, who a spokesperson for the service described as being in her 40s, was taken to hospital with serious bite injuries. She remains in hospital for treatment. It comes after the 'UK's most dangerous plant' leaves toddler in A&E with second-degree burns.

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A spokesman for Lancashire Police said in a statement that the "lawfully owned" dog had been seized. They said: “We were called at 4.45pm yesterday (July 31) to an address in Wingrove Road, Fleetwood, to a report of a dog bite.

“The emergency services attended and found that a woman, aged in her 40s, had suffered serious dog bite injuries to her arm from an XL Bully. Members of the public intervened to get the dog away from the woman.

"She was taken to hospital for treatment, where she currently remains. The dog, a lawfully owned XL Bully, has been seized.”

Police have now appealed for information relating to the incident, with members of the public asked to contact the service via its non-emergency number at 101.

Anyone who contacts the number with relevant information is asked to quote the log 1029 of July 31. An XL bully is the largest kind of American bully dog and since February 2024, it has been a criminal offence to own one without an exemption certificate.

XL Bullies make up a significant portion of the dogs seized by Lancashire Police, the service revealed last year.

Posting its results in December 2024, the service said it seized 300 dogs over the year, 113 of which it said were XL Bullies and another was an XL Bully and Shar Pei mix.

A further nine of the lot were labelled "suspected XL Bullies" with exact breeds not confirmed. Among other breeds were several different other bull types, including 19 pocket bullies, 24 the service defined as "pit bull types".

Other breeds were Staffordshire Terriers, including 12 purebreds and 15 crossbreeds.