Amnesty sees 15 pit-bulls killed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6334031.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Fifteen pit-bull type dogs have been put down during Ballymena Borough Council's dangerous dogs amnesty.

In the first such scheme in the UK, owners of pit-bulls and other dogs bred for fighting were given a month to hand in animals without fear of prosecution.

At a council meeting on Monday night councillors were told that 61 dogs had been examined.

The 15 confirmed as illegal were humanely destroyed, acting chief executive Maurice Watterson said.

Ballymena became the first local authority in the UK to hold such an amnesty after a pit-bull attack on a family in County Antrim in November 2006.

Sean and Deirdre Doherty, their son Ben and a family friend escaped with only minor injuries after an horrific attack by a pit bull-type dog in Randalstown Forest Park.

Their pet labrador, Troy, was killed in the attack.

Assembly appeal

Mrs Doherty, from Antrim town, said Troy sacrificed himself to stop the pit-bull from attacking her son and welcomed the results of the amnesty.

"It's 15 less of those dogs which are, as Ballymena Dog Warden Nigel Devine said, unpredictable," she said.

"That is 15 off the streets. We were never going to reach the more hard core but it is 15 less. Any kind of indentation is good."

She has written to councils across Northern Ireland and she wants them to follow Ballymena's pitbull amnesty lead.

Mrs Doherty is now writing to assembly members to get a review of the dangerous dogs act and she says what is needed is for pit-bull breeders to be hunted down.

Omagh District Council is holding an amnesty and Newry and Mourne District Council and Derry City Council are also considering such a move.