Hi , as you cannot reply to individual cases, i would like to know if you have any idea what affect this may have on a dog, taken away from its loving home and put in a strange place, you recognise that this may be upsetting to individual owners who have their dog seized. What about the dogs????? do they not have feelings too . how do you look after these dogs? do they get the right physical and mental exercise they need? what do you do with a dog that needs medication or a special diet? how much human contact do you give them? what food do you feed them? do you ask the owners what food they are used to? are they seen by a veterinary surgeon? what i would also like to know is if a dog is returned to its loving family, do you pay compensation to the owner for the disstress you have caused and counselling to any child who maybe affected by your actions? one last thing i would like an answer to is if you seize a dog on suspicion of being a banned breed how is it you don't have the owner arrested on suspicion of owning a banned breed,or do you think you have caused enough heartbreak already!!! Look forward to your reply........... as yet no reply to this or the one i sent to belfast city on thr 3/6/10

Strange thing is... I have sent around 15 emails to them using various email addresses and as yet haven't got a reply to any of them.

Mabey back to BCC then as they have to reply within 5 working day, i sent one on 3/6/10 to BCC then one to yolanda on 4/6/10 as yet no reply.

I got this reply from Yolanda Elwood

Dear Ms Leigh,

As I stated previously I can not comment on individual cases however I can advise you Article 25 (a) of the Dogs Order 1983 as amended by the Dangerous Dogs (NI) Order 1991 applies to any dog of the type known as the pit bull terrier, Japanese Tosa, the Argentinian Dogo and Brazilian Fila. Under the provisions of this legislation any dog suspected of being a dangerous dog may be seized. All such animals will be examined by an authorised officer and, should criteria for that breed be met, may be held pending further action. If in any proceedings it is alleged by the prosecution that a dog is one to which the legislation applies it shall be presumed that it is such a dog unless the contrary is shown by the accused by such evidence as the Court considers sufficient; ultimately it is a matter for the Courts to decide. It must be noted that the Dangerous Dogs Order was introduced as a measure to protect the public from animals perceived as dangerous.

Further information regarding the legislation may be obtained from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at http://www.dardni.gov.uk

Belfast City Council Dog Wardens receive training from many sources both here and mainland UK, several also have many years experience in the field of dog control.

I trust this clarifies the position.

Sincerely,



Yolanda Elwood
Dog Control Manager

Interestingly enough - I also read somewhere that BCC use the USPCA to identify "dangerous breeds", and to help them inspect and declare if a dog is of a 'pit bull type'. Might it be worth contacting them to see if they had anything to do with Lennox in this case?

Hi Grace just wanted to welcome you to the new forum, so welcome. Thank you so much for sending emails to the council. We have contacted the USPCA and they don't agree with what has been happening to Lennox and other family dogs and they are appealing for the law to be changed along with several other pet organisations. The dog wardens where also to take Lennox to my vets, but as of yet my vet hasn't heard from them. Even my vet was upset for us as they have never raised any concerns over Lennox's breeding and I have been using the same vet for over 14yrs, so they know me well. We will keep you updated and I look forward to speaking to you soon. I may take a few days to reply to anything else as I'm going into hospital tomorrow for knee surgery, but I will be back on line in a day or two. Caroline (Lennox's owner) xx

Dear Mr Allen,

Thank you or your recent correspondence I must apologise that no one has gotten back to you regarding your email, this has been due to the high level of emails we are currently receiving. I would like to reassure you that this is not the normal standard of service that Environmental Health would seek to give.



I would be happy to try to respond to your email however and I must apologise I can not locate this, your email below does not show your original email but rather the standardised response we issued in relation to enquiries regarding a specific case. If your original email relates to this specific case you will understand that I will not be able to comment on this.



If your request is more general in nature and can be satisfied via a response I will endeavour to do so. If this would be better handled or framed via a Freedom of Information request I can advise you on receipt of the mail how your request will be dealt with and how long this will take to respond to.



I again apologise for the lack of response to date and I hope to be able to help you in the future.



Regards,

Cormac.


Cormac Quinn
Business Co-Ordinator
Environmental Health Service!!!!!!!!!!!!! She now has a copy of the original,so waiting for a reply.my original email does not relate to specific case so they will be able to comment on it.

Nice job Andy... very nice. Although I will disagree with the following reply you were given:

"I can advise you on receipt of the mail how your request will be dealt with and how long this will take to respond to."

Because if you were to file a Freedom of Information request, by law they have 20 days to respond so telling someone that they will let them know how long they're FIR would take is incorrect.

Brilliant Andy, we need more of this the more they get tortured with emails the more they will need to pay attention. Thanks very much for doing this Andy.

I'm off to file another FIR with BCC

Dear Mr Allen,

Your below response does seem to be indicative of a specific case that the dog wardens are currently involved in, as such I can not comment on this subject.



As you have titled this email “ Lennox is loved” I will not progress this request as this deals with a current case that may or may not be the subject of legal proceedings.



In order to be of assistance I would suggest that you rephrase your request and that this has no reference to any ongoing cases. It is only in these circumstances that I can deal with requests for information.



If your request is for information on how dogs are cared for whilst under the remit of Belfast City Council I can try to deal with this request.



Regards,

Cormac
Mr Allen,

Thank you for the below request for information, I write to acknowledge your request for information and to inform you that this has been logged and passed to the operational unit responsible for a response.



The Council will treat this as a Freedom of Information request and as such you will receive a final response no later than 20 working days from today, which is 16/07/2010.



I would hope to have final response to you well before this date.



Thank you for your understanding in this matter,



Regards,

Cormac Quinn

Here's some reading for you folks. This is a reply from Yolanda Elwood to an MP regarding Lennox, note how she still classes Lennox to be a Dangerous Dog yet shes never had a complaint about him, he's never hurt anyone but still she lies to the MP stating he's a dangerous dog because some guy thats paid far too much has been asked to look at a couple of pictures emailed to him by Yolanda and he says it looks like a Pit Bull. My God, pay me enough money and I'll tell you a tabby cat is a damn killer tiger!
All said folks, Yolanda is a bit annoyed by our campaign because she constantly mentions it to our Solicitor and in the below letter "Very Public Campaign" Obviously Yolanda and her team have something to hide, else the emails are getting too much for her! Keep it up folks, Well Done!