Judge pardons death row dog

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041015/80/f4nwo.html


LONDON (Reuters) - Dog-lovers are celebrating after a judge granted clemency to Dino, a German Shepherd sentenced to death for biting, in a case that had gone as far as the European Court of Human Rights.


Dino, a seven-year-old German Shepherd, got into legal hot water when he bit the hand of a woman who tried to intervene in his fight with her dog in January 2001.


He faced a destruction order, but his owners, who say the incident was out of character, spent tens of thousands of pounds on a protracted legal fight to save him.


The case went as far as the High Court and even the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg where the dog's owner, Bryan Lamont, argued his rights had been compromised by an unclear law and a disproportionate sentence.


A judge at Northampton Crown Court granted Dino clemency on Friday after hearing evidence from two animal behaviourists and a vet.


"The judge was satisfied that this dog isn't a danger to public safety," said specialist animal lawyer Trevor Cooper, who represented Dino's owners.


"Our best argument, of course, was that the incident happened three and a half years ago and nothing has happened since," he told Reuters. "So we were saying the dog has proven the court wrong himself."


Owner Lamont said the family had had widespread support from members of the pet-loving public and some dog charities.


"He's always been a pet since he was a puppy. If we had ever felt at any time that the dog represented a danger, then we wouldn't have gone where we've gone," Lamont told Sky News outside the court.