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Eleventh Hour Plea To Save Death Row Dog-bruce


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More contacts, this time the Northern Ireland Assembly-debate issues and laws etc

 

Please email the following regarding bruce :flowers: - these are the political reps for bruce's area -

 

North Down constituency has six MLAs (think each constituency has six elected)

 

MLA = Members of the Legislative Assembly

 

Alex Easton

Stephen Farry

Peter Weir

Leslie Cree

Brian Wilson

Alan McFarland

 

Alexander Easton DUP - [email protected]

 

Stephen Farry - [email protected]

 

Peter Weir DUP - [email protected]

 

Leslie Cree UUP - [email protected]

 

Alan McFarland UUP - [email protected] and [email protected]

 

Brian Wilson - [email protected]

 

 

 

Here is a template, please use if it helps, entire, part or your own words-even if you just send the one sentence, still worth it, please for Bruce.

 

Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly:

 

I am writing to you regarding your constituent Shannon-Leah Brown and her pet dog ‘Bruce’ an innocent dog who has been sentenced to die and was due to be destroyed on Monday 6th July, until a last minute stay of execution was granted as legal proceedings are ongoing.

 

Bruce, a young Staffordshire Bull Terrier, was living happily with his family in Bangor, when on September 19th 2007 he was seized by council officials as an alleged “pit bull type†and taken to secluded kennels whilst his owner was taken to court for owning a banned type of dog contrary to the Dangerous Dogs Act (Order) 1991. A trial was heard at Bangor Magistrates' Court on 27th August 2008 and the court determined that Bruce was “of type†despite the evidence from two expert identification witnesses who said he was not. Judgement was given two weeks later on the 12th September and Bruce was ordered destroyed devastating his family and supporters. He remains on ‘canine death row’.

 

Whilst incarcerated in kennels his family were allowed to visit Bruce in October 2007, Bruce had lost weight, muscle tone and had a cut to his muzzle. Five months later Bruce was allowed a second visit from his family in March 2008, they were shocked with what they found: The wound on Bruce's muzzle was larger and had become infected, he had to have his tail amputated, had open sores, was underweight and looked totally rejected, yet despite the clear pain he was in, is described by experts as being a friendly dog that poses no danger to the public.

 

Northern Ireland has not adopted the 1997 Amendment Act as in England, Scotland and Wales, despite being debated several times. Any dog deemed to be “pit bull type†cannot be entered onto the Index of Exempted Dogs as an alternative to destruction. If provisions in the Amendment Act had been accepted in Northern Ireland, as with the rest of the UK, Bruce would have been home long before now, alive and registered on the Index of Exempted Dogs.

 

Bruce has been offered a place of safety with a dedicated rescue and sanctuary in Southern Ireland where he could legally live out the rest of his life but this offer has not so far been accepted by the court.

 

Bruce hasn't actually ever put a paw wrong; he is sentenced to death due to the way he looks and the fact that NI has a mandatory death penalty for dogs found to resemble ‘pit bull types’ unlike the rest of the UK who gave the courts discretion when sentencing twelve years ago.

 

In a desperate attempt to save Bruce, owner Shannon Brown, supporters and neighbours have created petitions and videos resulting in support from Northern Ireland and worldwide to “Bring Bruce Homeâ€. Dogs are part of our families as much as children. Please support your constituent - Bruce’s owner and add your voice to help defend Bruce.

 

As the plight of Bruce’s story travels, support for him and horror, disgust and anger against a law which permits the killing of an innocent dog based on its appearance is flooding in (for example please see Eleventh Hour Mercy Plea To Save Death Row Dog ) the world is now watching Northern Ireland and following the case.

 

I look forward to your view on the legislation and plea that you please support Bruce and bring this matter to the urgent attention of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

 

Yours sincerely

Edited by kola
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The MP for North Down is:

 

Lady Sylvia Hermon MP

 

North Down

Majority: 4944

Electoral history

Member for North Down since 7 June 2001 general election

 

Region

Northern Ireland

Westminster

 

Lady Sylvia Hermon MP

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

 

Tel:020 7219 8491

Fax:020 7219 1969

[email protected]

http://www.sylviahermon.org

 

Amanda x

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Reply from one of my emails:

 

Re Bruce the Dog

 

 

Dear Sir/ Madam

 

Thank you for your e mail. I was concerned to read about the situation that Bruce has found himself in, and have written to North Down Borough Council to see if anything can be done. Given however that a judicial process has been put in place it may be difficult to see what action can be taken to rectify the situation. I regret that this is the case but it would be wrong to give you false hope. The Assembly has risen for the summer, but I will press the Minister to introduce the appropriate legislation to ensure that no other Bruces are put in the same position.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

Cllr Peter Weir MLA

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I had the reply above and now I've just had this -

 

Hi Kelly,

 

Thank you for drawing this to our attention.

 

I would like to point out that VetNI is the secretariat for the profession and does not employ any veterinary surgeons, however Bruce’s case has been brought to the attention of the veterinary associations in Northern Ireland. VetNI does not offer comment on specific cases particularly if they are still under consideration by the courts, and cannot speak on behalf of every individual vet in the province, however most practitioners in Northern Ireland would be supportive of the BVA policy (http://www.bva.co.uk/public/documents/ps_dangerous_dogs.pdf) which endorses the Government’s aim of protecting the public from dog attacks whilst opposing any proposals which single out particular breeds of dogs rather than targeting individual aggressive dogs.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Jo Gibson

Secretary General, VetNI

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