Half of American XL bully dogs in the UK may all descend from one animal.
The large breed has been topic of conversation of late after an 11-year-old girl was mauled by a dog in Birmingham last week, Saturday, 9 September.
The attack has sparked calls for the breed to be banned in the UK, with Home Secretary Suella Braverman having now 'commissioned urgent advice on banning them'.
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According to statistics, American XL bullies are responsible for 38 percent of all dog attacks that have occurred in the UK this year.
In previous years, it was found that - on average - three people a year die from a dog-related incident, but this went up to 10 in 2022.
But where does the American XL bully actually come from?
The breed is reasonably new and was first introduced in the US in the 1990s.
The dogs are a variation of a pit bull, but breeders were said to want to make a 'bigger and stronger version' of the pooch.
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Now new genealogy research has found that half of the American XL bullys in the UK all descend from one dog - Killer Kimbo.
Kimbo was bred by Los Angeles-based breeder Gustavo Castro and is reportedly born from a brother-sister pairing, and his grandparents shared the same father.
Apparently he was purposely inbred to create a larger, more muscular frame, says BullyWatch.
Products of Kimbo have been responsible for ten violent incidents across the globe.
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Expressing her concerns, scientist and campaigner for BullyWatch, Gloria Zsigmond, said: "Kimbo's offspring became very, very popular and they're still so popular in the UK to this day."
Zsigmond went on the label it as 'extremely troubling'.
Now, following hours upon hours of research, Zsigmond has discovered that 32 of 50 breeding dogs here were related to Kimbo.
The information was generated by using family trees uploaded by breeders.
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"A lot of the time, the Bully breeders are trying to hide how inbred the dogs are," she told The Telegraph.
"Kimbo bled into all those bloodlines because he was early on and he was so dominant in breeding. There are some good bloodlines where Kimbo isn't there, but there are many where he is."
One of Kimbo's offspring, Nico, was responsible for the death of a four-year-old girl in 2014.
Mia Derouen, from Louisiana, had a close bond with the family dog who had a history of being loving and loyal, but one afternoon Nico's temperament changed.
He launched an attack on the young girl, forcing her mum, Megan, to eventually flee the dog with her daughter through the window.
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Mia was rushed to hospital with severe facial and head injuries, but sadly she didn't survive.
Nico was later shot dead by police.
Despite BullyWatch's findings, the group has urged people not to 'label every descendant of Kimbo as defective'.
"That’s not the case," its website reads.
"It’s obvious that the number of generations removed will significantly influence the outcome. The crucial message is the undeniable relevance of genetics. This understanding is vital if we are to engage in a reasoned discourse on why a large number of XL types are displaying unexpected and sudden aggressive behaviour in the UK."
Niamh Shackleton