Save Lennox

Just to spread word about the "Save Lennox" campaign. You can read the details of the case on the link above, but briefly: it's about the horrible mistreatment of a dog in Ireland, who has been taken away from his family (including a disabled 12-year-old girl for whom he was a companion and best friend) and locked up in a cage for 11 months - all because of an archaic legislation that says Pit Bull dogs have to be put to death.

As it happens, Lennox isn't a pit bull in the first place. But breed-specific legislation is ludicrous anyway. In the context of human rights and liberties, we have words for such things, and none of them are good words (some of them wouldn't have been good words even two hundred years ago, when our attitudes to individual freedom, racial differences and gender rights were very different from today). There is no excuse for such unconscionable cruelty.

With the Save Lennox campaign gaining some momentum internationally, the authorities concerned have been trying to suppress information about the case, reporting Facebook links as abuse, and so on. If you care enough about the issue (and please keep in mind that animal rights is no longer the only thing at stake here), please do spread the word among your friends and request them to sign the Save Lennox Petition. Also, see the "How you can help" page on the website - it has a list of email addresses. My friend Hemali Sodhi, who alerted me to the case, has already written to the Irish ambassador in India, but every little contribution is very welcome.

Update: comments have mysteriously been vanishing from my Facebook-page link to the Save Lennox campaign - it could, of course, be a temporary glitch, but I'm inclined to be more cynical about the whole thing. So I've put some of the comments on this post. This one by Hemali Sodhi is particularly relevant:

The idea is to break down Lennox so that he will be so changed that they can say 'I told you so.' This whole situation has been making me sick - I've seen Lennox's photos in his cell, surrounded by his own faeces with no water in sight, and... trust me, you don't want to see them. To top it all, for all of us crusading for his freedom, there have been vicious attacks on facebook. The original Save Lennox FB page with over 30,000 supporters had to be pulled down Saturday because of disturbing attacks. No comment can be posted on BCC.
 

I've even offered to move him to India and pay for all expenses - not the best solution but surely one to take into account if they cannot have him in Belfast? No response. we're being stonewalled at every step of the way. What we really need to do is spread the word like wildfire here; create noise, get attention globally so people know Belfast is getting a severe dent in its reputation because of this.

Once again, please do spread the word if this matters to you.