COUNCIL THREAT TO KILL HARMLESS DOG

[Vallhala]

Lennox is a 5 year old family dog. His parents are a Lab x Staffie and an American Bulldog. He is NOT a banned dog as described by the law of his homeland, Belfast in NI. Nor has he ever been an aggressive one. He lives peacably with a young family and other pets.

Yet he may well die.

Belfast Council have forcibly taken him from the owners who have loved him since he was 8 weeks old. Now he is in council kennels, awaiting his fate. He suffers from stress yet the Council won't even tell the family how or where he is. They, including their 11 year old disabled daughter, are in pieces and Lennox's life hangs in the balance.

The petition to save Lennox is HERE

Full details, written by the owner, are HERE

Please sign the petition and, if you will, also email Belfast City Council to express your concerns. Their details are on the owner's webpage.

Just signed it.

Have signed.

They are saying he looks like a Pit Bull (banned breed) Riven, but haven't tested him or proved him to be one. The family say he is not,he is an american bulldog/staff/-lab cross, they say he is a gentle family dog.

I don't know much about it TBH, but I think they should 10% prove him to be a pitbull before the put him to sleep! Especially If hes not 'commited and attack' but just been seized because of his look.

£100 prove!

argh! 100% prove.

I need some more sleep, lol.

I have signed it and also passed it onto a frien who campaigns for dogs like Lennox. She will definitely make sure people hear about it.

Poor Lennox and his family

Done. Dh also signed. How awful.

surely the family can spring for a dna test? whole thing sounds a bit weird to me tbh.

that is disgusting behaviour by the council.

thats like arresting a seedy man because he "looks like he might commit a crime"

Me and dp signed.

I'm presuming they would have to have access to the dog to be able to test him. The council could/might have already refused to do it on their behalf even if they offered to pay.

Besides which why should they have to pay for one? Their dog has done nothing wrong.

Thanks guys!

The owners have had Lennox since he was 8 weeks old. He is, according to the owner on the Save Lennox Website, DNA registered within the country, something carried out by his owners. DNA registration is generally carried out by breeders to prove parentage - for example, you wouldn't want to spend £800 on a "pedigree" GSD, which looks purebred GSD but which turns out to be a GSD crossed with a Labrador, would you?

Since he was lifted by the Police and Council, on the grounds that, to the dog warden looking through a 6ft iron security gate for a brief moment, Lennox looked like a Pit Bull Terrier, the owners have been forbidden any access to him. They don't know where he is or how he is. Lennox is totally at the mercy of a belligerent council and an ill thought out, ill applied law which will decide his fate. The owners are not in a position to send him for further testing, it's now a matter for the courts.

You might think that the court at least will act with intelligence and reason. Not so in my experience, with a council's higher authority and team of lawyers against them, Lennox and his owner have a very, very hard fight ahead.

Thank you all for standing alongside Lennox's family as they continue that fight.

Hhmm sorry I'm not convinced by this so wont be signing.

If you can supply any further information (I'm sure the LA would be happy to provide a statement if they knew an official campaign had started, or ask a local paper to become involved) then I shall happily reconsider.

May I ask that if you don't know much about it as you said earlier, why you feel the need to campaign for a dog that for all you know may be dangerous? Not being argumentative just genuinely curious.

Jaqueline, I guess my tag-line sums up my views on animal welfare:

No kill. No excuses. No limits. No fear.

IME no dog deserves to die at man's hand unless he is suffering beyond help.

BESIDES WHICH... I have had enough experience of cases of this kind and I have seen so many of their ilk. Let's put it this way - if that dog is dangerous, PBT or not, I'll eat my hat. I'd be extremely surprised if he was a Pit too, btw. Think the dog warden is talking out of their ass, from what I've seen of Lennox.

Added to this is the information and the views which are coming to me from my Irish fellow rescuers and animal rights activists, which are giving me absolutely no reason to doubt the story.

Dangerous Dogs legislation has been proven to be incredibly ill thought out, a knee-jerk reaction to recent press (and thus public) hysteria and councils' interpretation of it has ignorant as it is dangerous imho and ime.

Thank you for your reply Vallhala, I disagree with you that no dog deserves to die at man's hand, some imo do, for example dogs that have mauled a child to death etc. Obviously I understand this has nothing to do with this particular case.

I admire your passion for this subject area, however, I would still like to hear what the council have to say before I sign anything. I couldn't sign anything with only one side of the story.

Good luck though.

i have signed

just looked at their site and there is NO WAY he is a Pb. I have had SBTS all my life, and met lots of PB and you can tell he is a cross breed.

shame on that council.

It's ridiculous. even if he is a Pit bull, who cares, if the individual dog has a good temperament, what does it matter what breed he is?

The world is full of too many dogs. What's another one?

[runs and ducks]

It is rubbish legislation, but the DDA bans pit bull type dogs, not just genetic pit bulls. The council will have to get an expert to write a report to say why the dog falls under the Act I think?

The family can get their own expert if they do not accept the other one. If the dog is found to be a pit bull type the family can also apply for a retrospective exemption I think. Bit vague, it's been a while since I looked into it, but I think that's right.

"the world is full of too many dogs. What's another one?"

You could say the same thing about people.