This has really got under my skin. I know that a petition is not much more than a means of registering your opposition to something but I couldn't not sign it. We have two dogs and they are the centre of our family life. The thought that one person's opinion could cause them to be forcibly removed, imprisoned, neglected and destroyed makes me retch. I mean, for Pete's sake, there are strains of bee that are known to be aggressive but nobody goes around measuring your bees (this is how they determined that Lennox was what was described as a "pitbull-type" - BCC's inverted commas, not mine - dog) and killing them depending on the results.
BCC also said that when Lennox was in their, ahem, care, he would go from being sedate and placid to noisy and aggressive in an instant. I don't speak for anyone else but I'd probably do the same under similar circumstances. Had he a track record of harmful behaviour I could at least see BCC's logic, but to destroy a dog on such trumped-up and erroneous charges is just sick. BCC cited threats being made, disruptions to BCC's workings by members of the public etc etc. Whilst I don't condone some of the more extreme actions that took place, I fail to understand why someone involved in this process didn't ask "Hang on, why are the people we serve so pissed off about this and what can we do to address that?". Madness.