Condemned Dog "Lennox" May be Put Down Today

[SoDesuKa]

BELFAST -- The long battle to save "Lennox" - a dog that looks like a pit bull but is part Labrador - is coming to an end, possibly as early as today. Although pit bulls are illegal in Belfast, the Barnes family maintains that Lennox has never bitten anyone.
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"Lennox" - Illegal Dog Scheduled for Death in Belfast, NI
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Petitions, videos, letters, and a free public event organized by Oreo's Law Task Force, a project of No Kill New York is planned for Monday, July 9 at 10:00 a.m. in front of the British and Irish Consulate Offices in New York City in order to save the life of Lennox, the condemned dog of Belfast.

The American bulldog and Labrador cross is scheduled to be euthanized this week after a controversial two-year battle between the Belfast City Council and the Barnes' family, the owners of Lennox. The seven-year-old dog was removed from the family home in 2010 under the country's Dangerous Dog Act.

Despite not one report of the dog ever biting anyone or misbehaving, the Court of Appeals denied a last chance request less than a month ago to spare the life of the family pet and close companion to the Barnes' family physically challenged daughter Brooke.

http://www.examiner.com/article/last-efforts-to-save-lennox-the-condemned-dog-of-belfast?CID=obinsite

[LuvNewcastle]

1. That is so fucked up.

I hope they let the dog come to America.

[sulphurdunn]

2. This is always

what happens when people elect authoritarian assholes to run things instead of hiring humans to do the job or doing it themselves.

[xchrom]

3. ...

[nankerphelge]

4. Not good

Time to boycott northern Ireland.

[ColesCountyDem]

5. Breed-specific legislation is totally stupid.

It's bad owners who make bad dogs.

[Scootaloo]

7. Especially since "breed" is largely useless

Unless you're flashing registrations and documents, your dog is a mutt. Plain and simple. And if you HAVE all those records, why golly, your show dog probably behaves well enough to not be put to death.

Doofus legislation, wherever it's put in place.

[Honeycombe8]

6. That is so wrong and so cruel. nt

[marble falls]

8. Behind every vicous pit bull is a vicous owner. 99% of pitbulls are great companion dogs ...

who will never ever bite anyone. The other 1% are owned by sociopaths.

[RebelOne]

14. They are and so are Rottweilers.

I have owned both breeds and they were the sweetest and most well-behaved dogs you would ever meet. Unfortunately, they are all in doggie heaven. I now have a Chihuahua and anyone who meets her would classify her as a dangerous breed. Whenever anyone enters my house, she attacks. I don't know why. I have had her since she was 6 weeks old and she was trained the same as my big dogs, but she is a holy terror whenever it comes to strangers.

[marble falls]

15. Behind every "bad" Rotweiler is an idiot owner who "trained" it .

[octothorpe]

17. My family had a rottweiler when I was a teenager

We got him when he was a little furry ball pup. He has his moments, but overall he was a good and friendly dog. He used to hate being outside alone too. One time he was in the back yard and he dug his way out, but he went to the front door and scratched at it until someone heard him.

Sadly we had some asshole neighbors who made a big deal about him being a rottweiler. He never did anything EVER. The few times in which he was outside in the front, he stuck close to the house and never chased or barked at anyone. In fact, I rarely recall ever hearing him bark much. Even a golden retriever I had would run up to people to get pet, this rottweiler didn't even do that. Because of the pressure, my parents ended up giving him to some people who lived in a place where less assholes exist.


Oh yeah, little chihuahuas scare me... My old roommates had one of those. I thought it was cute and it liked me, but the thing was mean to some people. It was able to jump around and move like a cat, but in a less elegant dog-like manner. It was hilarious at first, but it sure got old.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

9. This is so damn ridiculous and unnecessary

Poor Lennox. Poor family!

[Crzyjaney8]

10. E-mail and call!

Email the Lord Mayor at [e-mail] and [e-mail] AND [e-mail]. They can save this poor pup! Call the Lord Mayor's office and Michelle's office often.

[libinnyandia]

11. This reminds me of a situation in a small town near where I live. The city council removed from a

service dog from a veteran's home because it is part pit bull, in violation of federal regulations about service dogs. The dog was returned to its owner but there is going to be a trial in 2013.

[OnionPatch]

12. He looks just like my dog!

I knew I shouldn't have clicked this. My dog is also part pit bull and part lab. She's eight years old and is by far the sweetest dog I've ever known. Kids can crawl all over her and she'll just wag her tail even harder. We got a new puppy who tried to use her as a chew toy and she never once lost her temper with him. Treats him like a puppy of her own. You could take a bone right out of her mouth and she'd just look at you and wag her tail. Lennox sounds a lot like her. Even the expression on the face is the same! I can't believe they would kill a dog like her!! This is seriously screwed up.

[smokey nj]

13. Kick!

[magical thyme]

16. why didn't they do dna testing?

they can prove his heritage is bulldog and lab.

Doesn't help the stupid breed bigotry, but could have saved his life.

[octothorpe]

18. I don't think they cared either way.

It really doesn't make any sense. Maybe they put the little guy down a long time ago and they did all this to cover up their mistake.

[magical thyme]

19. I meant the dog's owner, but it turns out

she admitted some time back that Lennox was a "pit bull type."

However, you may well be right that they put the poor guy down long ago. They would not even allow her to see him to say goodbye, so they may well have been covering themselves there. She probably didn't have access to get a specimen for dna typing either.

And I now believe they simply were intent of putting him down regardless, to defend their original decisions. Otherwise, why not allow him to leave the country to go stay with the rescuer/rehabber where he wouldn't be breaking any (effed up) laws or a danger to any "public."