Information, Education & Advice - helping dogs in need
Information, Education & Advice - helping dogs in need
Birmingham pet dog “Tupac” is to be registered onto the Index of Exempted Dogs and returned to his owners following a one day hearing before Solihull Magistrates court on 18th August.
Tupac, an 18 month old family pet, was seized by the police following an incident on 1st April 2008; he had grabbed a cat from underneath a car outside his home and the cat had sadly died from the injury received. His owners were subsequently charged under Sections 1 and 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act (DDA) and under Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Following the seizure of Tupac, concerned owners Paul and Lynne Barber contacted the Endangered Dogs Defence & Rescue for advice and were put in contact with Buckinghamshire based solicitor Tina Haye who is becoming increasingly experienced with DDA cases.
Renowned animal behaviourist Dr. Roger Mugford extensively examined Tupac and presented his evidence to the court; he found that Tupac was of the Pit Bull Terrier type and described him as a sociable and friendly dog who showed no aggression, a video of his assessment was viewed by the court. Paul Barber pleaded guilty to one offence under section 1 of the DDA of being in possession of a prohibited type of dog and went to trial on one DDA Sec 3 (non-aggravated) offence of being in possession of a dog that was dangerously out of control in a public place and one offence of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal (the cat) under s4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
At the time of the incident the cat’s owner had thought that the dog may attack her if she went outside, District Judge Cadbury concluded that the prosecution had not proved the objective test based on this. Mr Barber stated that Tupac had never shown any aggression to a human in the past and was found not guilty as the Judge could not be sure that there were reasonable grounds for apprehension that Tupac would have injured any person at the time of the incident.
Mr Barber was also found not guilty of an offence under Section 4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which replaced the Protection of Animals Act 1911. The Judge concluded that the defendant didn’t know there was a cat under the car when he let his dog off the lead, Mr Barber said that Tupac had chased rabbits before and a cat but had never attacked and caused injury to any other animal. The Judge concluded that he could not be sure that Mr Barber knew or ought to have known that in letting the dog off the lead unnecessary suffering would be caused to the cat and therefore found him not guilty.
The court ordered that Tupac be entered onto the Index of Exempted Dogs and allowed home once the requirements of registration have been met.
Mr. Barber was disqualified from having custody of a dog for two years and so the court specified that Paul Barber be registered as the legal ‘owner’ of Tupac and Lynne Barber be registered as the ‘keeper’ of Tupac. This was possible due to the quick thinking of solicitor Tina Haye who argued that the defendant’s disqualification related to the custody and not ownership of a dog.
The Court contacted the Index of Exempted Dogs who confirmed that it was possible to register both the owner and a keeper as two separate people providing that the court order specified it.
A Freedom of Information request submitted by a member of the Pet Owners Parliament revealed that during a six month period between November 2007 and April 2008, 203 dogs were seized by the West Midlands police under section 3 of the DDA, the number of dogs seized under section 1 was not available.
Paul and Lynne Barber were delighted that their dog was spared a death sentence and can’t wait for him to come home; they haven’t seen Tupac for over five months. EDDR have offered help with registration and aftercare advice once Tupac is released.
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