Help Venus Home

For the Attention of: 

The Prime Minister, The Rt Hon David Cameron MP;

The Deputy Prime Minister, The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP;

The Leader of the Labour Party, The Rt. Hon Ed Millibank MP;

The Secretary of State for the Home Department, The Rt. Hon Theresa May MP;

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, The Rt. Hon. Caroline Spelman MP;

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Lord Henley

Proposer of the Dog Control Bill,  Lord Redesdale

Laura Sandys, Conservative MP for South Thanet

Luciana Berger, Labour MP for Liverpool, Wavertree

We, the undersigned give our signature in support of the 'Help Venus Home' Petition (http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-venus-home/), and fully endorse to demand that Venus be immediately released and  returned her owner, .  

The circumstances of the seizure of Venus are as follows:

Venus, a one year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross has a home in Kent with her owner, Victoria,  and her litter-sister Athena.  Venus's owner travelled to visit relatives in Liverpool, taking her two beloved dogs with her.  On March 31st 2011, the police visited the home of her relatives, and whilst this had nothing whatsoever to do with the dogs, while at the home the  police noticed Venus and Athena and approached them.  Venus and Athena were both scared by their approach and were whimpering.  The police seized both the dogs believing them to fall under the 'Pit-Bull Type' of the UK Dangerous Dogs Act.  

Athena was returned eight days later, as they didn't believe her to be 'of type', but they have kept Venus under section 4b of the D.D.A., despite both dogs being of the same litter.  Athena's owner was not allowed to collect her due to Venus being kept at the same kennels, however when Athena was returned she was very afraid and clung to Victoria for dear life when they met up again.  Athena had also contracted kennel cough, which sounded like a strangulation noise mixed with wheezing.  Athena was in a very bad state,  the fur around her neck was especially bad, and looked like a constraint of some description was used.  All  of her fur was very loose and she had flaky skin., which the vet attributed to being in a stressful environment.  Athena was also was very reluctant to eat, and seemed to be afraid to take the food, despite constant encouragement.  She had to be hand fed for a week, and needed Victoria to literally stand next to her for the following two weeks encouraging her to eat, and even now constantly needs encouragement to eat.  Athena is obviously showing signs of distress as this is the first time they have been separated since birth, and she is continually 'crying' for her litter-sister.  Victoria stated "Personally i don't think that Athena would have survived if she'd been in the kennels this long" (referring to the length of time Venus has been incarcerated.

Victoria requested repeatedly to Merseyside police for information on Venus, including details regarding Venus's seizure, and for any court date, but at the time of the petition going live (almost four months after Venus's seizure), she had  not received any documentation, and the police were not forthcoming with any details by any other means.  The only communication was with the police is when she pleaded for information only to be told by them to "stop pestering with phone calls".   Victoria obviously was, and is, beside herself not knowing anything about her beloved dog. 

The court case for Venus only came to light when Victoria received  a phone call telling her the court date was to be held on Monday 27th June, the paperwork concerning the court case was not received until Wednesday 6th July as it had been delivered to the wrong address, despite two home assessments being done at the home, and one being documented.    Due to the late arrival of the paperwork it was agreed by the  Force Solicitor that it could have an adjournment either 12th or 18th July.  

The case was heard on  Monday 18th July, of which Judge Clancy ordered Venus's destruction.  Although the case was about Venus, the judge deemed Venus's owner not fit to have her returned due to a very minor mental breakdown, however Victoria has also passed her police check with praise.  This however, seems also a very prejudicial way to treat Venus's owner, as one in four people in the UK has a mental health problem at some point, and the fact is, she has proven that she is more than capable of raising her dogs to have an excellent temperament and be a fully responsible owner.

We  vehemently disagree with his decision, not just because of the prejudice towards Venus, but also because the testaments stating her outstanding behaviour  from the people who know Venus best, (the vet, neighbours, rescue centre) were not taken into account, and instead the Judge decided to ignore these as not being relevant to the case.  We personally feel that this was biased not only towards Venus, but also towards Victoria.

Neither dog has ever shown any aggression towards anyone or anything.  The dogs are known well by their vet who has stated that they both have a good temperament.  In addition to the vet's statement and that by the Tag Rescue Centre where both Venus and Athena were booked into be spayed before the seizure, and many supporting letters by those who know both Victoria and her dogs, Venus passed both the police and individual behaviour assessments with outstanding results whereby they stated that she was SAFE and  NOT a danger to the public, and could be returned to her owner.

Both dogs are loving family pets and Victoria is more than a responsible owner, it has been remarked that they are a credit to her, as have been raised in an excellent manner, and the excellent assessments reflect this.  They are both trained, vaccinated, micro-chipped and insured, so it shows how much responsibility Victoria has for her two dogs.  Venus doesn't deserve to be destroyed as indeed does any dog that has fallen foul to the over-zealous and almost pre-historic BSL law.

Venus was seized and kept incarcerated just because of the way she looks and absolutely for no other reason.  As previously stated Venus has never done any wrong, never shown any aggression, has had no complaints against her, and official paperwork also states her outstanding behaviour, so why the order of destruction?  It seems due to the ignorance and prejudice surrounding the bull breed dog. 

If applied to a human, this would be seen as prejudicial racial hatred, and is wrong, just because another species of our animal family has been locked up for the way they look, it doesn't make it any less of an issue.  They obviously can't speak for themselves which is why the undersigned have spoken up for her and the many other innocent victims who have suffered through this unjust  'breed selective legislation'.   

In the words of  Mahatma Gandhi,  “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

We thank you for taking the time to read our combined views.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

(Each signature represents a single protest)