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COURT SEES A "FRIENDLY" DOG DOOMED TO DIE
(cutting Telegraph August 23rd 1944 by Jenny Rees)
BUSTER, a four-year-old mongrel condemned to death as a pitbull, was shown on a video film in court yesterday placidly coping with the lively advances of a fox terrier
The hearing could save Buster's life. Buster's owner, Karen Brock, 22, of Colindale, north-west London, has fought a long legal battle to save her dog since it was seized by police under the Dangerous Dog Act in December 1991.
Police said Buster was an unregistered pitbull. Magistrates fined her £50 and imposed a destruction order on the dog in August 1992.
Miss Brock, who is legally aided, took her appeal to the Crown Court and then on to the High Court, where two judges sent the case back to the Crown Court.
In effect the High Court judges set a precedent by ruling that a dog's behaviour is a significant characteristic which should be taken into account when deciding if the animal falls within the Dangerous Dog Act.
At Wood Green Crown Court yesterday, Judge Leonard Gerber, sitting with two JPs, heard prosecution evidence about how Buster compared to pitbull standards of the American Dog Breeders' Association.
Chief Insp Jan Eachus, of the RSPCA, told the judge that he had twice measured Buster, which, in his opinion, is a pitbull, but had come up with different figures. Cross-examined by Ms Sandy Canavan, defending, he admitted that on his first examination he did not have the required expertise.
When Ms Canavan and Mr Eachus came close to arguing in court, Judge Gerber said: "Now, let us not have any fighting. We are dealing with fighting dogs, not counsel and witness."
Continuing, Ms Canavan asked Mr Eachus whether Buster was an "authentic reproduction of a fighting machine". He replied: "There is not any combination of points you could say are found only in pitbull terriers."
According to Mr Eachus, the dog, when being examined, was not aggressive. "The closer you came to him, the more likely he was to give you a clean-up with his tongue."
The judge spent most of the afternoon watching video films of Buster, shot at Mill Hill police station, and presented by the defence.
Once again, Buster was being measured, this time by Dr Peter Larkin, a veterinary surgeon, of Storrington, Sussex, who breeds bull terriers and is a championship judge for the Kennel Club. Dr Larkin said that Buster was much more like a Staffordshire bull terrier. "The pitbull must be an athlete. The pitbull needs to be on his toes ready to leap, but Buster doesn't give that impression at all. So unathletic is he that he can't jump more than several inches. It's perfectly obvious from the video that he is particularly friendly to humans." The hearing was adjourned until today. /cutting ends.