Lennox didn't bite anyone, he wasn't vicious, he caused no harm, in fact he was a friendly, happy go lucky dog. Hard to believe that a a city council would sanction, no demand, a harmless, loveable dog be killed? Believe it, Lennox's troubles started as a victim of a BSL (Breed Specific Law) and his life ended because of arrogance, ignorance and egos.
When you take away all the drama and tempers, here is what happen: a little over two years ago three members of Belfast City Council had the dog warden seize Lennox, after these inexperienced, non-experts declared he was a pit bull mix and therefore a dangerous dog.
This quickly spiraled into a horror show. The family appealed to the animal warden but were repeatedly ignored, they appealed to city council for help and were turned down. They retained an attorney and took their case to the press and the public and that's when the real nightmare began.
Animal advocates denounced the Belfast City Council members, they posted angry remarks on Facebook, Twitter and various websites demanding the release of Lennox and some suggested vile and destructive actions be taken against the council members. The Belfast City Council members dug in their heels, how dare these crazy animal activists stick their nose in "our" business? How dare they tell us what to do?
Of course there were also reasonable, problem solving animal activists that were calmly and kindly offering solutions to save Lennox (remember, Lennox never did anything wrong ~ never) and allow the members of Belfast City Council and the court system ~ as the case went to an appeals court ~ to save face and let Lennox live.
Sadly, both sides dug in, by golly the council was not going to be threatened, yelled at, pushed around or bullied by a bunch of dog loving busy bodies. They could legally kill that dog and by God they were going to do it. No one was going to tell them they couldn't carry out their God Given Duty!
The animal activists were angry, frustrated and at a loss. How could the Belfast Council members choose to kill a dog based on incorrect information? Hundreds of thousands of animal lovers worldwide signed petitions to save Lennox. Hundreds of people protested the laws, wrote letters to the editor, called and emailed the council members. Rescue groups offered to take Lennox into their organizations, Victoria Stillwell offered to place Lennox in a sanctuary to live out his life in safety.
At any point the members of the Belfast City Council knew they could legally allow Lennox to go home to his family, or release him to a rescue or give him to Victoria Stillwell who agreed to pay for all costs associated with taking him to a sanctuary.
Instead, they let their anger, arrogance, ignorance and egos reign supreme and earlier today they killed this handsome, loveable dog who never growled, bit, or harmed anyone. They killed Lennox because they could.
While I would like to ask the Belfast council members "What exactly is it that you think you won?" Maybe the more important question to ask them is "Do you have any idea what you lost?"God Speed precious boy, I'm sorry we couldn't save you.
