Pit bull-inflicted deaths in the U.K. in each of the last three years have exceeded the human rabies death toll in Thailand in any of the last 10 years.
LONDON, U.K.; BANGKOK, Thailand––Does the British charity Dogs Trust care more about preventing fatal dog attacks in Thailand than in the United Kingdom?
A July 10, 2025 media release from Soi Dog Foundation senior account manager Lucy Self inadvertently raised the question with a passing mention that Dogs Trust has since 2016 funded 50% of the Soi Dog mobile anti-rabies program in Bangkok, Thailand.
This, obviously enough, is a laudable use for some of the Dogs Trust annual income, exceeding £136 million in 2023, or $186 million in U.S. dollars.
Soi Dog Foundation, often profiled by ANIMALS 24-7, is also a laudable recipient of the aid.
Points of comparison
But some points of comparison are worth mentioning. The United Kingdom, human population 68 million, and Thailand, population 72 million, are nearly the same size.
Thailand since 2016 has had from five to nine confirmed human rabies deaths per year, “with only one confirmed case of human rabies in the past 18 years” in Phuket, where the Soi Dog Foundation is headquartered, Self hastened to mention.
The United Kingdom has had 32 dog attack deaths in the past 42 months, 28 of them inflicted by pit bulls and pit bull variants.
Of those deaths, 27 were inflicted specifically by XL Bullies, a supersized pit bull variant banned in the United Kingdom since 2023.
Dogs Trust, allied with the Royal SPCA, fought the XL Bully ban in the courts and in Parliament, and is still fighting to overturn it.
Fighting the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991
The 28th fatal attack in the United Kingdom by a pit bull variant during the past 42 months was by a Staffordshire. Dogs Trust, the Royal SPCA, and the Kennel Club have fought since the introduction of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 to keep Staffordshires off the banned list, originally including only American Pit Bull Terriers, Dogo Argentinos, Fila Brasilieros, and Japanese Tosas.
XL Bullies have been the only addition––and the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 has never been strictly enforced. If it had been, there would no longer be any pit bulls in Britain, not even Staffordshires, since the legal definition of a pit bull and an XL Bully is broad enough to cover all of them.
Dogs Trust has “admitted a breach of duty”
Dogs Trust has now reportedly “admitted a breach of duty through its insurers” by allowing a pit bull attack on a senior staff member, identifying the pit bull as “a rescued American Bulldog,” but is disputing the extent of the claimed damages.
“Karla Haines, 34, was working at the Dogs Trust’s rehoming centre in Harefield, west London, when what has been described as a ‘fierce and mischievous’ bulldog cross named Jester sank its teeth into her arm,” summarized Aidan Radnedge for The Daily Mail.
“Haines suffered multiple lacerations and puncture wounds, leaving permanent scarring and causing psychological injuries with ‘post-traumatic stress disorder-like symptoms,’ her lawyers say,” Radnedge continued.
“She is now suing the Dogs Trust, where she was assistant operations manager, for more than £200,000 in compensation––blaming the organization for not properly controlling the territorial dog who she says was ‘likely’ to bite.”
“The court will now decide”
Detailed Nawal Abdisamad for The Sun, “The court will now decide whether Haines is entitled to the full amount she is seeking — or whether the payout will be reduced.”
Haines, previously a Dogs Trust adoptions supervisor, was assistant operations manager at the 16-acre Dogs Trust Highway Farm House in Harefield, west London, as of July 3, 2021, when “called in to help deal with the misbehaving rescue dog.
“Despite Haines requesting that the dog be put on a lead,” Abdisamad wrote, “court papers say Jester” inflicted a bite leaving her “with long-term sensitivity in her arm, anxiety, and flashbacks.
“Her lawyers argue the dog should have been kept in a secure area or tied to a fixed lead point to prevent attacks on staff,” Abdisamad continued.
“Haines alleges that safety protocols were not followed”
“The Harefield center houses up to 150 dogs at a time in swanky kennels fitted with underfloor heating, exercise paddocks, and a sensory garden,” Abdisamad said.
“But behind the scenes, Haines alleges that safety protocols were not followed — and that she was effectively exposed to danger in the line of duty.”
Concluded Abdisamad, “It is understood the case is being closely watched by other animal welfare professionals, who say it raises serious concerns about staff safety when working with rescue dogs who may have violent histories.”
RSPCA sued in parallel case
Parallel to the Haines case, Mark Duell of the Daily Mail on April 19, 2023 disclosed that Joanna Harris, 49, “who lost an arm after the American bulldog she rescued mauled her during a vicious attack, is suing the RSPCA for more than £200,000 in London’s High Court.
“Harris was fostering Kiwi the dog for the RSPCA, and had been hoping to adopt him,” Duell explained.
“Harris claims the RSPCA allowed her to foster the animal, who was destroyed, knowing he was an unsafe, dangerous dog who had previously attacked two other women,” Duell wrote.
Harris lost her arm at her home in Crowborough in September 2021, two months after Haines suffered a similar but less severe injury.
“It is also alleged,” Duell added, “that the RSPCA failed to remove Kiwi from Harris’s house when she reported that he tried to bite her on August 26, 2021––a week before the incident in which she was injured.”
Dog attack lawsuits rare in U.K.
Similar lawsuits are common in the U.S., costing shelters, rescues, and insurance companies millions of dollars per year, but until now have been almost unheard of in the United Kingdom, where the national health insurance plan covers most injuries.
Haines, meanwhile, remaining employed by Dogs Trust, in January 2024 opened a new Dogs Trust adoption center in Lewknor, between London and Oxford.
Addressing media as manager of the Lewknor site, Haines said, “We take in five kennels’ worth of dogs every four weeks from Northern Ireland. As an organization, we have a commitment to help with the strays problem in Northern Ireland and the number of dogs that are abandoned there.”
Northern Ireland
The six counties constituting Northern Ireland in February 2025 became the last part of the United Kingdom to begin to enforce a ban on XL Bullies, after several Northern Ireland rescues accepted large numbers of XL Bullies from England, Scotland, and Wales.
Northern Ireland is also among the last bastions of greyhound racing worldwide, with the Drumbo Park track in Lisburn and the Brandywell Greyhound Track in Derry.
Grey 2K USA Worldwide president Christine Dorchak on May 10, 2025 announced a legislative campaign by Northern Ireland allies to try to close the Drumbo Park and Brandywell greyhound tracks.
The Republic of Ireland
The 26 counties forming the Republic of Ireland also prohibited XL Bullies effective on February 1, 2025, having already banned American Pit Bull Terriers, English Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers [correctly recognized in Ireland as a pit bull, unlike in the United Kingdom], Bull Mastiffs, Doberman Pinschers, Rottweilers, German Shepherds (also known as Alsatian), Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Japanese Akitas, Japanese Tosas, and any cross or variation of any of the other dogs restricted by breed.
(See Ireland bans XL Bully pit bulls; already restricted pits by 3 other names.)
Opposing the Irish legislation, besides Dogs Trust, are reportedly the Irish SPCA, North Wexford SPCA, Dublin SPCA, Irish Kennel Club, Irish Blue Cross, Dog’s Angel, Working Animal Guardians, My Lovely Horse, Haven Rescue, and Dog Law Ireland.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Meanwhile in Thailand
Meanwhile in Thailand, according to Lucy Self, the Soi Dog Foundation “has spayed, neutered and vaccinated over 89,000 dogs in Phuket since 2003. It has also sterilized over 1.4 million animals across Thailand, including over 600,000 in the Greater Bangkok area.
“In 2003,” Self said, “the stray dog population in Phuket was estimated at 70,000,” including 11,500 to 15,000 in the temple district, according to then-Phuket governor Vasaputi Pongpayome.
“Today it is under 7,000,” Self said.
The Soi Dog Foundation continues to sterilize and vaccinate 22,000 dogs and cats per month, Self mentioned, as well as directing an ongoing campaign to eradicate rabies through vaccination and sterilization in Vietnam.
One more comparison
The Thai Department of Livestock Development in 2006 issued an import ban on American pit bull terriers, Rottweilers, Dobermans, and Fila Brasilieros.
(See Attacks push Thailand toward tougher pit bull & Rottweiler bans.)
The United Kingdom has been free of indigenous canine rabies since 1922. The last human rabies death from a bite by a dog residing within the United Kingdom came in 1902.
Eradicating rabies in the United Kingdom was achieved chiefly through a sustained vaccination campaign directed by the National Canine Defence League, as Dogs Trust was known from 1891 until 2003.
(Daniel Leventhal photo)
Ironically, though, the 12.8 million dogs in Thailand, including about 1.8 million unowned street dogs, are now somewhat less likely to kill someone than the 13.5 million dogs in the United Kingdom, practically all of them either owned or confined to animal shelters.
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