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POLICE TOOK MY DOG IN A DAWN RAID. THREE YEARS LATER I GOT HIS FROZEN BODY BACK IN A BIN LINER
(cutting Sunday Express By Matthew Mervyn-Jones)
MPs and animal welfare groups last night called for immediate action to halt the misery created by he Dangerous Dogs Act.
A special Sunday Express investigation has revealed an alarming catalogue of heartache with pets mistreated in kennels to an appalling degree. some weven dying in mysterious circumstances.
And heartbroken owners have been separated fromyears from their dogs, which is almost every case have turned out to be harmless family pets.
While the owners wait for the outcome of long and costly court cases their dogs according to leading vetas are left in conditions of cruelty. The cost to the taxpayer is an already estimated £10million.
And the policce have acted in a sometimes brutal way.
Leading expert Dr Roger Mugford, an adviser to the Queen was shocked. He said "UI can'tr blieve this is happening in Britain"
But it is. Ask Cheris Mulligan 27, whose ni.htmlare began with a 7am knock on the door and ended nearly three years later when she was presented with the deep frozen body of her pet in a plastic bag.
Cheris of Cobham, Surrey, bought her dog Tyson, after a doctor said a pet would help cure her of depression. She got him from a car dealer who said he was too friendly to be a guard dog...he rarely ever barked.
Experts at one of the series of court hearings said that the only recognised trace of recognised breeds they cold find in Tyson were Rhodesian Ridgeback and Bull Mastiff both of which are not on the list of breeds covered by the Act.
Cheris ws asleep in her house in November 1992 when there was a loud knocking on the door. Terrified she jumped out of bed and shouted as she was getting dressed.
This she claims was the reply "Its the police. Open the door or we'll kick it in"
Six officers then stormed past her, knocking her against a wall and seized the bemused Tyson.
What followed was a long chapter of legal wrangling, beginning with a magistrates court hearing in November, 1993, when Cheris failed to prove her dog was not a pit bull terrier type.
Sje lost an appeal to the Cown Court in October 1994 but by the time the High Court Appeal was due in the summer of 1955 Tyson was dead.
Cheris had a phon call from a friend telling her he had died. Heartbroken she went along to Staines police station wher she was gicen a plasic bag eith his frozen body inside.
For th last eight months ofhis life Tyson, a fit and hdealthy five year old wa held at Longcross Kennels, near Chobban, Surrey one of the seven used by the Metropolitan Police.
2hen Tyson died a part of me died with him" said Cherie. "If a human is arrested they have rights. But pets have no rights - they die in secret.
"It's the sort of thing you wold expect in a totalitarian country not Britain.
Police later said the dog had a heart attack, but a post mortem commissioned by Cherie indicated that he died due to a tratable blood infection.
The Sunday Express was present at another example of the Act in action which, had it not been so tragic would have bee farcical.
Brutus the devoted pet of 70-year old Paul Chieke, was seized last November whle on his daily walk in Brixton, South London.
The police said he was an unregistered pit bull tpe. But Mr Chieke claimed he was a Staffordshire bull terrier - a breed famed for its loyalty and love of children.
The case was heard in August and was dismissed after a prosecution witness failed to turn up. But it wasn't the end for Brutus. He was kept in custody at a kennels until 10 dys ago when he was delivered back to Mr. Chieke still in a cage on the avement at Thornton Heath, Surrey. Police said the pavement was a public place - and immediately tool Brutus back into custody.
Dog expert Dr Roger Mugford had examined th dog and found 28 differences in behaviour between it and a real pit bull terrier.
"This is double jeopardy. If they dont; get you the first time they try again. So far botu £10,000 has been wasted on this case" he said.
If found guilty Mr. Chieke's pet faces a dath sentence, although he has never harmer anyone.
In the short period of its life the Act has caused untold heartbreak and tears - not the least to the family of Mark Armston who still cannot talk about th horror it caused them nearly four yers ago.
He hanged himself the day he hads his Americn pit bull puppy put down because he couldn't afford the insurance to comply with the law. The broken hearted 20 year old from Caernarfon, Gwynedd, left a not saying "Goodbye. Sandy and mewill be together forvever"
Coroner Dewi Pritchard Jone attacked the rushed legislation which he said made a family pet a "dangerous weapon"
Faced with clear evidence that th Act is condemning pets who have never attacked or harmed anyone to lonely years in concrete kennel and ultimate death, MPs are demanding action.
Roger Gale, Tory MP for North Thanet said "The law must be changed. It was passed in haste and has not worked as intended. It has caused sinificant number of animals and their owners untold misery.
"There are places in this country where if an animal barks, has a leg in each corner and a tail it wags, the it has to be a pit bull terrier. Magistrates must be given back the power of discretion"
Mr Gale, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Animal Welfare Group added "I find evidence of neglect uncovered by th Sunday Express very worrying.
"Any kennle that treats animals badly musy be closed down."
Clarissa Baldwin, chief executive of the National Canine Defence League, admitted they were worried about what is happening to the dogs held in these secret kennels
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