The past year has been big for people who pretend that they’re making a point by publicly humiliating themselves in increasingly bizarre ways. For example, there was that Arizona dad who protested a school’s dress code by showing up wearing a crop top and shorts, pulling the real-life equivalent of showing someone your own browser history and saying, “Damn, isn’t this messed up?”


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Now, this particular breed of psychosis has spread across the pond to our tea-drinking brethren in the U.K. In case you haven’t been following the British news, the government recently enacted a ban against a dog breed called an “XL Bully.” The ban prevents the sale, breeding, abandonment and giving away of these dogs.



If the name “XL Bully” isn’t clue enough into the problems with this animal, “The government says there have been 23 deaths caused by dog attacks since the start of 2021, ‘with the XL Bully being disproportionately involved in this rise,’” reads an article from the BBC. In case you need more, “NHS consultant Richard Baker told BBC News that the dogs' powerful jaws mean the wounds they inflict are worse than those from other breeds, resulting in broken bones, shredded skin and damaged nerves.”


Oh yeah, they’re also horribly inbred, with evidence showing that most XL bullies in the U.K. come from a single, small group of dogs that were brought to the country back in 2014. Of those few, some were already known to have a lineage containing dangerous dogs. I know, this all seems great!



Given this, the U.K. government decided to ban the dog. XL Bully owners did not take this well. There have been XL Bully protests in London, and now, the Brits have started a bizarre protest in which they wear muzzles in public places. (Yes, I know.) This guy wore his muzzle to the pub:



Another guy got matching muzzles with his dog:



They both insist that this is a political act and not a leftover look from their rave days. What they say they hope to accomplish here, apart from having an excuse to do the Bane voice everywhere, is to make the government reverse course on their current laws around XL Bullys.



They may have a bit of a point. On paper, the government’s punishments for owning an XL bully are fairly severe. “From 1 February, it will be a criminal offence to own an XL bully without an exemption certificate. Police can seize prohibited dogs, and owners face a criminal record and an unlimited fine. Anyone choosing not to keep their XL bully must take it to a registered vet to be euthanised by 31 January 2024. They can claim up to £200 compensation,” notes the BBC.


However, you may have noticed the “exemption certificate” part of that sentence. It turns out, you can just have your dog exempted from this whole thing. Sure, it takes a bit of work, but so long as you follow a few rules and fill out the right forms, the government’s not going to come and kill your dog.


See? It’s not as bad as you thought. You can all calm down. I would say you guys can take the muzzle off now, but I get the feeling you don’t want to.