breed specific law | Savannah's Paw Tracks

12 Jul 2012

Thankful Thursday

Hiya Savannah Here…

I don’t do “Thankful Thursday”…in fact I just learned about it today when Mom and I were visiting some new blog furriends.

It seemed like something I wanted to do on this particular Thursday, in this particular week of this specific year…

I am so very thankful that I am a cat…not a dog that happens to be on a list for Breed Specific Laws (BSL) somewhere in the USA or elsewhere in the world…especially in Belfast Ireland. I am thankful I have a forever home from which I can never be torn. I am thankful I have food, shelter, loving touches and guardians who make sure I am healthy, and I am thankful I am forever safe from harm’s way. Dad and Mom are truly my special Guardians. I am thankful this Thursday and everyday forward.

Mom, Dad and I did all we could do over the last months and then weeks, then days to Tweet, sign petitions, email government officials here and in Northern Ireland, which is a part of the UK, not to be confused with the Republic of Ireland…trying to help save a lovely innocent dog named Lennox.

Millions around the Twitter, Anipal Blogging and Face Book world were stunned to learn that on Tuesday this week, the Belfast City Council put Lennox to death.

Belfast dog Lennox put to sleep after 2-year fight – Yahoo! News

What he did to break the law was look like a pit bull type dog. He was never aggressive, lived happily with his family and two years ago, BSL slammed him into harm’s way.

The candles are to remember Lennox…and hope the human, biped, peep world learns from this mistake and miscarriage of laws. Can’t we live together in peace and goodwill? Peeps and animals???

For Lennox….the candles burn brightly to guide his way OTRB…

…RIP LENNOX…

As you read my post today, please know that many dog breeds, mixed breeds too as was Lennox…remain in danger from BSLs…and so many more may come to suffer because of them in future. What will we all do together to make it safe for bipeds AND dogs?

Many of our dear blog anipals are in danger of falling within the BSL rules that not only talk about the type, look of the dog…but I learned from my pal Clowie in Spain, that some BSLs even go to the extent of prescribing weight restrictions for dogs that can be deemed ‘dangerous’. Makes Clowie very nervous.

And of course, many of you know my pal Rumpy…he is a Malmute, one of the top 7 dangerous breeds recognized by insurance companies in the USA…my beloved Siberians are on the top 7 list as well.

So, I don’t know the right answer…I do know in our family we are going to start trying hard to find ways to work on it though…so lots of dogs like Lennox will have a life filled with forever Thankful Thursdays.

This is me…being thankful that I can sleep forever in safety…

Thanks for reading my post today, I am grateful for all the love and warmth you bring to me everyday.

Paw Pats, Savannah

14 Jun 2012

39 Comments

A Different Kind of Post

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

I decided to talk today about something me, Mom and Dad have been workin’ on since Monday. This is about a dog, named Lennox, whose appeal was denied Monday in Belfast, Ireland.

He and his owners were appealing the enactment of his execution mandated by the Breed Specific Laws(BSL) in Belfast.

Now you are asking…”why is Savannah writing about this??…” “What about her recovery progress??” Well, I will get back to that message tomorrow, but I care about animal rescue efurrywhere…and for all animals, the slobbery, barky dogs too!

Anyways…this post is about the power of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and OUR BLOGS! We can make a difference.

And it is about offering my learning related to BSL to anyone else who may not know any more than I did before Monday.

So, here’s how I got involved with Lennox…

I have been away from Twitter for a couple of weeks…and BOOM!! Monday AM I log in and WHAMMO! Efurryone is tweeting madly about the decision on Monday to deny Lennox appeal and all the cat and dog anipals’ thought Lennox was probably already dead

So first, about the power of social media:

From Twitter on Monday, I learned what was going on…I got instant status updates from cats in the UK as they read on line and in news over there about what was happening.

I was provided with the link to the Facebook page set up to collect signatures to petition the Belfast government to reconsider (hoping against all hope that Lennox was not yet dead)…we collected over 10,000 in a matter of a few hours

From Facebook page Tuesday and from Twitter pals, I learned that millions had chimed in on Twitter and Facebook…flooding Twitter and FB accounts for Belfast officials and other officials

Thousands have taken to emailing officials in Belfast, the UK PM and the President of the USA and other elected official in the USA, etc. (email addresses were shared on both Twitter and FB) Finally, there was a mass demonstration organized in Belfast on Tuesday.

And on Tuesday through Twitter I learned that Lennox’ appeal was being sent to a higher court in England…YES!!! PAW PUMPS!!! He is apparently still alive…

Maybe the outcome will be the same and Lennox will die. BUT, for this moment, the power of social media had an effect on rescueing an animal…and that power was global. Pretty cool, huh?!

Now for the power of our blogs…my pal Rumpy Dog used his blog today to raise a discussion about BSL and Lessons Learned from Lennox. From the links Rumpy had in his blog today, I learned about stuff that affects my thinking about how effective, read ‘not’ effective, BSLs really are.

Finally, I also learned that there are other dog breeds that can be next on the hit list if we don’t address how to better manage dogs who can be dangerous…regardless of breed. Check out this link: Top 7 Dangerous Dog Breeds as identified by a National Underwriters’ website.

Mom about fell outta her chair when she saw that Huskies were 4th and Mals like Rumpy were 5th!!!

…this is Mom and Dad with their dangerous Huskies…

But, there ya go…now I know I better be way more careful whenever I do my morning patrol at the front door with Nanuk…never knew he was dangerous…

Mornings with Nanuk

I personally believe it rests on the peeps to make things better. Taking care of dogs more responsibly is the long term answer…you can read more about that on Rumpy’s blog post today.

I hope I have not disappointed my followers by digressing today…but this issue of Breed Specific Laws has captured my attention…as well as how it is affecting one dog in Belfast and her family…it is an open dialogue of what is best to do when trying to keep the peeps and little peeps safe from possible dangerous dogs.

But…I am only a 5 year old cat…yet I’m kind’a thinkin’ what the peeps are doin’ about it right now is not so great…what do you guys think???