Council Destroys ‘Reprieved’ Dog
Posted By Ian Gill Date: 22/01 Posted Under: Animal Cruelty, Animal Welfare, Breed Specific Legislation, Dangerous Dogs, Dog News, Social IssuesFearing for public safety, Belfast City Council officials, took into their ‘care’ Irene Chamber’s two mongrels after complaints they were dangerous breeds.
After a year long wait, her two dogs were returned to her only for Mrs Chamber’s to be forced to have one of them destroyed due to aggressiveness caused by its mistreatment by the City Council.
Yolanda Elwood, dog warden for Belfast City Council said, “Unfortunately, Roxy became aggressive towards Hooch in the kennel situation and she had to be removed from Hooch to ensure his safety.
“We did not want Mrs Chambers’ other dog to be injured by Roxy. Unfortunately, this trait in this type of dog is hard to suppress.”
A Belfast City Council spokesperson said that they had made requests earlier for Roxy to be destroyed, “This suggests the offer from the council was based on sound judgement.”
Mrs Chambers remarked, “[The two dogs] could not get along after being held separately by the city council for a year. She had been taken away as a pup of seven months and locked away in confinement since she was a year. She had no interaction with any other animal and this is what had done the damage, so I decided there and then to have her put down.”
The two dogs spent 12 months in isolation as it was believed the two mongrels were pit bulls but on Wednesday a court hearing decided that the dogs were in fact mongrels and Mrs Chamber’s was a ‘loving and caring lady’.
Author DetailsWhen it was decided that Ian was going to become a father he gave up his IT career to take care of his children. He has worked as a door supervisor ever since and after experiencing the dregs of humanity Ian has decided to train as a teacher rather than go back to work with the dregs in IT again. Between being jumped on by his two warm kids, moaned at by his beautiful wife and barked at by a dog far smarter than he is, Ian tries to fit a degree and some freelance writing into his busy life. - See this author's webpage
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Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 1:57 am and is filed under Animal Cruelty, Animal Welfare, Breed Specific Legislation, Dangerous Dogs, Dog News, Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Belfast City Council is on a hiding to nothing here, the real fault lies with the justice system of Northern Ireland as well as the rest of the UK. Why is it that whenever a dog case comes to light, be it in NI or the rest of the UK, the dog(s) spend years in kennels before the case is heard?
I know of a council in the south of the UK that when it is prosecuting, leaves the dog with the owners and if judgement is made against the dog owner then carries out the court order, why cannot this be adopted as good practice when dealing with such cases, unless it is a really severe one?
Now that the case has found that neither dog was a ‘dangerous breed’ I assume that Belfast City Council and subsequently the tax payers of Belfast will have to foot the bill for two dogs spending twelve months in kennels? It must also be appreciated that if one of the dogs was suffering due to being in the kennels thn surely the most humane option was to prevent it suffering?
Belfast City Council Dog Warden Service must have been adhering to the law when they took the dogs in, but it is appalling that they were held in kennels for around a year.
Surely the Crown Prosecution Service should look at some kind of procedure where cases that involve animals should be given priority to prevent stress all round to both animals and humans?
The comment that the aggressiveness was due to the mismanagement of the dog by Belfast City Council is a typical anti-dog warden comment, is it possible to know just how the dogs were kept, what the kennels were like and what exercise regime the dogs received whilst held by the council.
the answer to ur comment about whether it’s possible to know what the kennels are like, exercise regime n in general how the dogs were kept is yes.. completely, the ‘kennels’ were in fact in an old safari park and the ‘kennel’ in question was used to keep monkeys in many years ago… an exercise regime didnt exist, not only with these two dogs but with many others in the same situation in n. ireland. DISGRACE!!
Neil, thanks for your response. Was the kennel licensed by Belfast City Council, if it is, it looks like a case of ‘do as I say not as I do’. Youwould tink that a council would ensure that the dogs being eld by them re exercised!
Sorry, my keyboard is a bit ancient and the keys sometimes ‘miss’, what I should have written is:
You would think that a council would ensure that the dogs being held by them were exercised!