If the pen truly is mightier than the sword, then perhaps an email campaign will be mightier than the Belfast City Council decision to end the life of family pet Lennox, a dog sentenced to death simply because he looks like a Pit Bull Terrier.
Pit Bull Terriers and dogs that just look like them are deemed vicious under the United Kingdom’s Dangerous Dog Act.
The Barnes family, from whom Lennox was seized in 2010, posted a message on The Lennox Campaign website July 2 acknowledging that, after their final appeal was rejected by the high courts in mid-June, their legal options have been exhausted.
“We cannot subject him to any more as there are no grounds for a further appeal,” the Barnes family stated, “and we do not wish to prolong his suffering any longer by engaging in a battle that we simply cannot win.”
Despite a lengthy and widespread media campaign, celebrity support, and a petition signed by more than 172,000 Lennox supporters worldwide, the fight to save Lennox has so far been unsuccessful.
Examiner.com is now reporting that Lennox’s time is running out: he is scheduled to be killed on Monday, July 9.
But one American advocate is refusing to give up on Lennox, and he’s hoping that you won’t either.
Jeff Coltenbeck, an experienced dog trainer and animal rescue advocate from Bloomfield, New Jersey, hopes to change Lennox’s grim fate. He has written to the Belfast City Council, asking them to allow Lennox to move to the United States and live out his days as a member of Coltenbeck’s family.
While it is a shame that Lennox would not be with the Barnes family, who fought so passionately to save him, with Coltenbeck he would at least get to live and be loved in a new home.
Coltenbeck has stressed that he would cover the cost of transporting Lennox across the Atlantic, so the change of heart would come at no expense to the Belfast City Council.
So far, Coltenbeck’s pleas have been ignored, but Lennox supporters around the globe are encouraged to send an email to the Belfast City Council urging them to consider Coltenbeck’s offer.
The Facebook page “An E-mail to Save Lennox” includes suggested wording, but supporters are encouraged to make their emails personal, individualized, and polite-yet-firm to send as strong a message as possible to the BCC.
Emails in support of Lennox can be sent to generalenquiries@belfastcity.gov.uk and belfastfamilycare@courtsni.gov.uk.
