Mara's Musings

Lennox (Source N.Country Gazette)

The saga continues....Belfast City Council are now refusing to release information about the death of Lennox and the payment of it's "experts" under the Freedom of Information Act.

The full article can be read here.


This begs the question:  If they have nothing to hide why are they spending so much time and energy covering up the events surrounding the death of this dog.

The dog warden at the centre of this case Alexandra "Sandie" Lightfoot, has been promoted to another position in Atrim.  Judging by the video footage of this woman petting Lennox who then subsequently claimed in court that she was terrified of him, this could be seen either as a reward for services rendered or as a convenient way of shifting her out of the city and hoping people will forget about her role in this matter.


Lightfoot, who has been the target of a lot of hatred, has been a very convenient scapegoat for the City Council. She has been very useful in terms of directing public anger towards one individual and then using that for justifying their own silence in this case.   When you look at her testimony, and compare it to the video footage one can only guess what sort of pressure could lead to someone making statements that could leave them personally open to charges of lying under oath.  I'm obviously not accusing Belfast City Council of putting undue pressure on this woman to comply, but considering the absence of evidence forthcoming regarding their actions surrounding this case it is food for thought.  That said, her  role in the initial seizure of Lennox and his eventual destruction is still her own responsibility and was incompetent at best.

Picture Source OurDogs.co.uk

As far as Peter Tallack is concerned I can't see any reason why he would have testified as he did, apart from the fact that he was paid to give an opinion, and he gave the council what they paid for.   His actual fee is a closely guarded secret, according to Belfast City Council, who are also refusing to release information about this under the FOI Act.  If the council wanted a real opinion they would have employed a proper canine behaviourist and not a dog walker/retired police dog handler who had by his own admission no qualification to comment on the dogs behaviour at all.  His own behaviour in this has been far from savoury and included threats to sue Victoria Stilwell when she pointed out his lack of qualifications. This was not about protecting his repuation, but rather more about trying to get money out of Ms Stilwell, which failed because it is pretty well impossible to sue someone who is telling the truth.

Dog lovers worldwide campaigned to save Lennox, but this is about more than one dog.  Lennox has become the focus for a wider campaign to end Breed Specific Legislation where a dog can be killed based on its breed, or its type, even when it has not shown any sign of aggression.  Calls are growing for an end to the BSL contained within the Dangerous Dogs Act from campaigners, animal welfare organisations and the wider public.  Not only has it proven not to work it has also led to the destruction of thousands of innocent family pets.

The actions of Belfast City Council in this case has also highlighted a need to ensure that dogs in the "care" of local authorities need to be monitored.  Regular visits from the owners should be permitted both as reassurance to the owner that the dog is well cared for, protection for the dog, and to ensure that the relationship between the 2 is maintained as much as possible during a stressful time.  There is no real reason why this should not be permitted.  Local authorities MUST be held accountable for what they do.  They should not be able to hide behind the monolithic structures of their own bureaucracy.

"Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members ; the last, the least, the littlest."  Cardinal Roger Mahony (1998)

http://www.songfordogs.org.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/songfordeathrowdogs

Lennox - another victim of the DDA

Following recent events in Belfast, I am turning this blog over almost exclusively to raising awareness of the travesty that is the Breed Specific dangerous dogs act in the UK.  I will post more about Lennox to update those of you who are not familiar with the case but for now I want to share this statement from Victoria Stilwell, the dog behaviour expert, who was heavily involved in trying to save Lennox.  It is important that this information gets out there.

The original statement can be read here.

"To all Lennox supporters and those against BSL. Please read this from my colleague Jim Crosby and share with as many people as you can. This is vitally important. When I was brought onto the case a year ago I received a copy of the BCC's 'expert's' report. This report was only supposed to be an evaluation of Lennox's measurements to determine whether Lennox was of pitbull type (which is laughable in itself.) The last paragraph of the report states that even though this expert knows that he has only been brought in to measure Lennox he still offers his opinion of Lennox's behavior, which he questions. That's it - one paragraph. I also have the behavioral evaluation reports from both David Ryan and Sarah Fisher - pages and pages of detailed, intelligent, unbiased and thorough investigations of Lennox's behavior. Yet the BCC stand by their 'expert' and so did the courts, discrediting the evidence of two qualified behavioral experts. Is that justice? Is that fair?

It is also public knowledge now, even though I have said nothing on this matter, but because it is already out there I will have to answer your questions truthfully, yes, the BCC's 'expert' did try to sue me for speaking out against him and questioning his credentials, and yes he did expect money from me to settle the dispute. He was not successful because all I did was speak the truth. But these are the kind of people that the family,myself and all those who have supported Lennox, have been up against. I will finish by saying that I do not approve of threats and intimidation being done to anyone on either side and would appeal to those who conduct themselves in such a way to stop - you are not helping matters. But also be aware that those of us who have supported Lennox and the family themselves have also received threats, some from the very people that BCC employ.

So onto Jim's report - this is a window into how it should be done:"
http://canineaggression.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/lennox-gloves-come-off.html