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A CAMPAIGN TO save the life of a seven-year-old American bull dog Labrador cross is waging online.
The dog, named Lennox, is in the care of Belfast City Council dog wardens after being removed from his owners on 19 May 2010.
On the website Save Lennox, the dog’s family say that the pet “committed no crime nor did any member of the public complain about him”.
They say that as the council believe he is a pit bull-type dog, he is to be put down.
A 28-day reprieve for Lennox following the last court date about his future runs out at midnight. The family lost their appeal against Lennox being put down for being a banned breed.
The case was brought to court under the Dangerous Dog Act, which was extended to Northern Ireland in 2011.
Belfast City Council said it would not make a comment, only to say that it was the “courts who made the decision and it is in their hands”. However, a spokesperson from Belfast Crown Court told TheJournal.ie that it is now up to the council to decide when the dog is to be put down.
The situation has gained attention worldwide, with the official Facebook page for the Save Lennox Campaign getting 12,897 ‘likes’.
Dog trainer Victoria Stilwell has offered to find Lennox a new home in the USA, the Belfast Telegraph says.
Lennox’s family released a statement last week saying:
We have fought to have Len returned to our family from the moment he was seized but we have been advised that the legal fight is at an end.
They added:
It has been almost impossible for us to accept that we have to admit defeat. We always believed that there was some hope and that justice would prevail.
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