JUDGMENT DAY FOR A DOG ON DEATH ROW; HIGH COURT MUST RULE ON 'MONGREL' RSPCA SAYS IS VICIOUS PIT BULL

(cutting by Hugh Muir Mail on Sunday July 1992)

EVERY dog may have his day, but Tyler will go one further. He will have his day in court.

It may be his last. If a High Court judge decides he is a potentially vicious pit bull terrier, rather than a harmless mongrel, Tyler will be put down.

The dog is at the centre of the stiffest challenge yet to last year's controversial Dangerous Dogs Act. He was seized by police last December, but his owner Debbie Stacey claims he is not a pit bull.

She says his mother is a Staffordshire bull terrier, his father a cross between a boxer and a Great Dane.

Experts, including Britain's leading expert on animal behaviour Dr Roger Mugford, agree. But police and RSPCA Chief Inspector Jan Eachus insist he is a 'pit bull-type' dog and won a case before magistrates and last month at Guildford Crown Court.

Tyler remains alive - kennelled by police at a secret location pending a verdict - only because of the appeal to the High Court.

Behaviour Ms Stacey, 28, of Epsom, Surrey, said: 'It's a terrible act. It has been so badly drafted that it affects people like me who just have a family pet. Something should have been done about dangerous dogs, but Tyler is not and never has been dangerous.'

Her solicitor Lionel Blackman added: 'We want to establish that it is not right to determine whether a dog is of the type known as the pit bull terrier on physical looks alone, regardless of parentage and behaviour.'

The row highlights growing claims that the legislation has become farcical in its application.

Critics cite a second pending High Court case in which a judge will be asked to spare a pit bull from Bristol which was seized when the owner briefly removed its muzzle to allow it to drink from a puddle.

Experts are also continually attending court to save mongrels and Staffordshire bull terriers picked up as pit bulls. The charity Pro Dogs yesterday staged a conference in London to discuss the law with solicitors, court officials, police, animal welfare groups and vets./cutting ends

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