The very sad case of Lennox was brought to my attention, and I wanted to share it with DogCast Radio listeners. You can support the Save Lennox campaign on Twitter and on Facebook and to find out more about how you can help Lennox visit his website where you can read his story:
I am writing this while trying to hold back yet more tears. The last few months since Lennox was taken have just been a blur like a bad dream we can't awaken from. Although it's been 5 years since we brought Lennox home as an 8 week old pup it seems like only yesterday. Lennox is an American Bull dog cross, I seen both his parents, his mum was a Pedigree American Bull dog and his father was a cross between a Pedigree Staffordshire Bull Terrier and a Pedigree Black Labrador. Since the day I brought him home he has been a member of our family and he has been in love with his kennel mates, an 8 year old male Yorkshire Terrier and a 3 year old female Boxer. As responsible dog owners who regularly foster other dogs for many dog shelters we had Lennox as a puppy neutered, micro chipped, insured, DNA registered, Pet Safe registered and licensed with the council every year since he was a pup and even now when he has been taken from us and held by the council we still maintain his annual dog licence. None of our dogs are ever off their leads in public as we live near many main roads and Lennox is always muzzled, not because he is a risk to anyone but because of the stereotypical views of others. He has never harmed anyone or anything and no member of the public has ever reported him. When the licence for my 3 dogs was a few days from expiring a Belfast City Council dog warden called to my home to leave renewal forms, the Council claim they no longer send renewals by post like I had been receiving for over 13 years, apparently now a dog warden calls to your home to hand deliver them? It was this Belfast City Council dog warden who went back to her office and reported me as having a Pit Bull even though she had only seen a glimpse of my 3 dogs through a 6 foot iron security gate at the bottom of my property. After she reported me as having a Pit Bull, dog wardens and Police arrived at my home and ripped Lennox away from his family and kennel mates, which we had no control over. They telephoned us later the same day and said he must be destroyed for no other reason than his legs and muzzle are of a certain amount of inches long. When I said I wouldn't sign him over to be destroyed when he has never done anything wrong and is clearly not a Pit Bull they tried to blackmail me by reminding me, Quote: “If you refuse to sign him over to us for destruction then we will force prosecution against you and may I remind you that this will cause you to lose your job" To insult further, the Belfast City Council dog warden who telephoned me refused to tell me where he was, how he was and if he is safe. We will not be pushed into putting our healthy, kind natured dog down especially as he has never done anything wrong. Lennox has never spent a night away from home and he has a fear of strangers which causes him to suffer severe stress which results in health problems (severe hair and weight loss) so how is he supposed to cope in kennels surrounded by strangers. We fear for his health and for the way in which he will be treated by these people, we have all seen evidence over the years of how these people care for dogs. We have not slept or eaten properly since he was taken and my family will not return to normal until he is home. When we told our 11 year old disabled daughter what had happened to him on Wednesday 19th May it caused her to have a severe asthma attack and she has been unwell ever since, has not been well enough to go to school. The law here needs changed fast, family pets whose parents have been seen and are not Pit Bulls should never be ripped away from their home when they have never done any wrong and no member of the public has ever complained about them. BSL was setup to protect people, its a failure, this act simply murders innocent dogs and ruins family lives, and most of these Council workers who remove and destroy these poor family dogs couldn't actually identify a Pit Bull from a Poodle, if they could then Lennox would still be here with his loving family and many other dogs across the UK would be at home and almost none would have been put down over the years. These so called dog wardens have no training or skills accredited to them to enable handling or identification of any dog breed yet they are employed to work within these council departments. This law, that allows family pets to be taken for no reason devastates families and causes unseen and untold mental and physical harm to innocent dogs. If these dog wardens and officials put as much effort into hunting down those who hurt animals as they do tormenting and destroying poor innocent dogs like Lennox and many others then we would never have had this useless, murderous law pushed through parliament to start with! I would just like to add a comment that was posted recently on Lennox's petition by one of you kind people as I feel it sums up this pathetic legislation: "All dogs shouldn't be judged because of some bad one's, if we did it to ourselves there would be no one left" Please help bring Lennox home. Our whole family and support network would like to thank each and everyone of you kind hearted people who have signed Lennox's petition and sent messages of support, none of you will ever understand how much hope and encouragement your words bring to our family with each message, if we could, we would reach out to each one of you and shake your hands! Thank you for giving Lennox a few minutes of your time by reading his story and signing his petition. Please tell others of Lennox’s plight.
Thank you again, from our family. X