Comments on: Council Destroys ‘Reprieved’ Dog

By: CrazyCanine

CrazyCanine — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:16:42 +0000

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!

By: CrazyCanine

CrazyCanine — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:14:32 +0000

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!

By: neil

neil — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 16:05:33 +0000

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!!

By: CrazyCanine

CrazyCanine — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:14:09 +0000

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.