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Bishop, is such a friendly dog, says owner Terence McGirr |
Owner’s plea for the return of seized dog
A DOG owner claims his pet was unfairly seized in a police clampdown on dangerous animals.
Terence McGirr, 25, and his girlfriend Sarah Goss fear they will never see their dog, Bishop, again. Police are holding the Staffordshire cross in a secret location after grabbing him in an operation two weeks ago.
A police photograph of Mr McGirr, taken during his arrest in West Hampstead, appeared in the New Journal.
He has been released on police bail and is waiting to plead for the dog’s return at a court hearing in Uxbridge.
Mr McGirr is the second dog owner to protest at the confiscation of a pet.
“It will be down to a judge to decide whether we can have Bishop back,” he said.
“He is such a friendly dog. He wouldn’t hurt anybody. We have pictures of him cuddled up to other dogs. He is like a son to me and my girlfriend.
“They asked me in an interview whether I knew Bishop was a ‘pit bull trace’. I said I didn’t know that but ‘you are the experts so I know that now’.
“The act says you are allowed to have dogs like Bishop if you show he is harmless, if you get him speyed and have a muzzle on him when you take him walking.”
Camden police staged a three-day blitz at the start of December, scouring the borough in search of pets which breach the Dangerous Dogs Act. Officers said the operation followed complaints about organised dog fights in Camden.
A senior police officer said at the time, in regard to pit bull-type dogs: “For some of these yobs, it is the new bit of bling.”
Mr McGirr, from Camden Town, now hopes to have Bishop neutered and micro-chipped, to comply with the act’s guidelines, and then returned to his family.
He admits there was an angry confrontation with police on the day he was arrested in Fairfax Road but said he was just concerned for his dog.
Mr McGirr said: “They are taking pets away from loving homes. That can’t be right.
“I hate the idea that some people breed these lovely dogs for fighting. Bishop was a family pet. We all love him and just want him back.”
Last week, Richard Webb, a doctor’s assistant from Camden Town, claimed his Staffordshire cross Gem had been taken unfairly by police and that he was having to plead his pet’s innocence in court. |
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