Family battle to get little girl's puppy home

Wednesday 04 May 2016

A desperate family have been fighting a four-month battle to get their little girl's puppy back home after it was seized by Customs Officers.

The eight-month-old puppy - called Mr Bronx - was taken away from them just after Christmas when they came back from a family trip to France. Customs Officers told the family that the puppy was from a dangerous breed, and he's now spent the last four months at the Animals' Shelter with the owners allowed just a single one-hour visit per week.

The mum, dad and three-year-old girl - who didn't want to be named in this article - say that they're now going to have to go to court to prove that Mr Bronx is not a pitbull.

They've already paid for an independent qualified assessor from the UK who confirmed that the dog isn't a pitbull - but that hasn't been enough to persuade Customs to release him. The family had launched an appeal through social media to fight a court case to keep their pet, but a lawyer saw the appeal and got in touch, offering services free of charge.

Mr Bronx's owner, who doesn't want to be named, said: "We're dog lovers, we bought the dog so that our daughter could grow up with the dog, teach her how to care for an animal, look after a dog,

He said: "I've had dogs in the past, I've had a Staffy, a Great Dane but we thought we'd get something a bit bigger than a Staffy. People are crossing breeds all the time and that's what we did innocently. We came back with all the correct paperwork and we'd got another holiday planned to take him away in June. He's the type of dog we want to carry around everywhere.

"At the end of the day, I agree with the recent amendment to the dog law about out-of-control dogs but I believe they shouldn't be discriminated against for the way that they look.

"Dogs that are out of control should be assessed and given the a chance to learn to behave accordingly - not taken away for the way they look."

The family have raised just over £1,000 towards their legal costs before the lawyer got in touch, and now they say that they're suspending the appeal - the money that they've raised so far will be used to cover the costs of bringing their expert assessor back to Jersey to help them in court.

The owner said: "With success we believe all costs will be recoverable and all funds raised will then be donated to an animal charity to help others. This is not about making money, we just want our boy home."