PA Media
Police were called to a property on Crossway, Rogiet, on Sunday evening.
The dog that killed a nine-month-old baby boy in south-east Wales was an XL bully, police have confirmed.
Gwent Police said the six-year-old dog was registered and that a certificate of exemption was issued in 2024, before a ban on the breed was introduced.
Police officers and paramedics were called to an address in Crossway, Rogiet, near Caldicot, Monmouthshire, on Sunday evening, and the baby was pronounced dead at the scene.
Following the incident the dog was sedated, removed from the house and taken to a vet where it was put down. No arrests have been made.
“While the dog in this case was registered as an XL bully, it was done so proactively before the ban came into effect,” said Assistant Chief Constable Vicki Townsend.
ACC Townsend said that in preparation of a law banning XL bully dogs, “when requesting a certificate of exemption, owners were not required to formally identify the dog’s breed”.
“In cases where a suspected banned breed is involved only a DLO [Dog Legislation Officer] or a court-approved independent assessor can make an official determination,” she said.
She added that police were fully investigating what happened.
“We again urge people to be responsible, and to consider the impact that speculation, rumour, and commentary can have on the family and on the integrity of our investigation,” she said.
Getty Images
An XL bully – shown here in a stock image – is the largest kind of American bully dog.
People in the village said they saw police cars and ambulances on the street late Sunday evening, with the “quiet community” finding it difficult to come to terms with the “horrendous” events.
Rogiet county councillor Peter Strong described the village as being in mourning, but vowed residents would “stand together”.
“It’s a deep and profound sense of shock that such a thing should happen in amidst our quiet community.”
Mr Strong appealed to local people to “stay calm [and] to give the family the space they need to grieve in peace”.
Since 1 February 2024, it has been a criminal offence to own an XL bully without an exemption certificate from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Despite the XL bully ban, the number of dog attacks increased in 2024 compared with a year earlier.
There were 31,920 dog attacks on people recorded in England Wales in 2024 – a 2% increase on 2023 – according to Freedom of Information figures obtained from police forces. This may not show the full picture, as three police forces did not provide useable data.