In a heart wrenching scene, the Lancashire Police removed an autistic little girl’s dog from the family home on Norfolk Street, Lancaster last week, contending the pup is a pitbull-type dog which is banned in the country, reports the Mirror UK. 
When local dog wardens reported Jenny Armer’s seven-year-old daughter’s best canine friend, Darla to authorities, eight police officers arrived with a warrant to remove the dog from the home. Armer claims the dog is a docile cross between a Shar-Pei and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier; neither of which are on the Dangerous Dogs List. The family adopted the sweet dog when she was just a puppy. Darla has played an important role with young Maddison, who suffers from autism and ADHD
And it seems dog owners have little input once police have arbitrarily made their decisions.
“Police arrived with a warrant to take her because they suspected she was a pitbull. But she is a Shar-Pei crossed with a Staffie. My daughter Maddison locked herself in the bathroom with Darla to stop them taking her. They said she measures up to a pitbull-type, and they don’t need to assess her behavior. They told me I could sign a disclaimer to have her put to sleep or I could fight the decision in the court,” stated Jenny.
Jenny intends to fight for Darla’s freedom.
“I have to fight it because she is Maddison’s best friend; she helps keep her calm. If Maddison is having problems, Darla comes and gets me. We’ve started a petition, and it has been signed by the postman, the binman, the neighbors – she isn’t dangerous at all. I have to get her back for my daughter. She is distraught and isn’t sleeping properly.”
Jenny, a mother of five children, has been given the option to put Darla to sleep to kill her or go to court and fight. And fight is what she intends to do, despite the risk of being sentenced to prison; however she can only be prosecuted if she had previous knowledge her dog was a pit bull type when she adopted her.
Darla is being held at an undisclosed location and the family is prohibited from even visiting her.
To donate to help with funds towards the court case, click here.
Darla’s petition can be found here.
Please make the petition readily available for the autistic child’s dog. It is not coming through on the Face Book pages. This is very urgent and time sensitive..
Thank You. Bonny
The little girl need her dog back it her therapy dog
Seriously ppl have u nothing better to do than take dogs .omg get a life . I wish for you all to burn in hell . Ignorant ..Fiy assholes .. Bullies want nothing but to give love ..
Another fine example of how BSL is “saving” the community from “Pit Bulls”. So Darla “looks” like a Pit Bull even though her DNA says not! So Darla “might” be dangerous, even though she hasn’t harmed anyone! Way to go UK! I hope this family wins this battle! The only thing this stupid law is accomplishing is taking a pet away from a little girl that needs her!. They should all be ashamed of themselves! Petition signed!
Victoria Stilwell has also highlighted this important campaign on Facebook for us. The more people who write to the Law Commission, the more chance we have of them putting BSL on the government agenda for law reform.
https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaStilwell/posts/10154461887913825
Instead of taking people’s much loved pets away, the police should be putting the evil scum bags that teach some of these dogs to fight away. Because of these awful people that’s what has given these dogs a bad reputation. It isnt the animals fault and not all of them are the same. Pets make a family and help in lots of ways with children and adults. ??
the dog is a 4 legged kid wearing fur.let the dog be with the family.would you like us to tell you we want your kids and we take them away from you?i donot think you would like it.stop it.dog is no harm to the kid and family.
OMG, Darla looks like a Shar-Pei and Bull Terrier cross, but I DON’T see a pit bull! These stupid laws only kill innocent dogs and tear families apart. It is ridiculous to kill a dog simply because of their breed: if that were an accurate reason for killing anyone, i.e., bad blood, there would be entire family lines of HUMANS eliminated from the planet as well, yet I don’t see anyone proposing that (yet)! The needs of an autistic child should be more important than an ignorant law based on faulty data and BASELESS FEAR!
The need to call the office of civil rights . they can get the dog labeled as a emotional service dog . Then she can keep him. People have nothing better to do then to destroy other peoples lives I have a mixed pitbull a because his owner threw him away . He is as sweet as can be, I love him with all my heart. He gets along with my other dogs who are labs. Its not the dog is the humans . We need to straighten up.
Signed & shared
What does this accomplish? You are breaking a young girl’s heart and making her suffer without the companion she depends on to help her cope with her ADHD and Autism. You take a dog that is not only kind and well-adjusted but serves a purpose and has a job and put him in a cage, away from his family/pack in an unfamiliar place. Shame on them! (btw — if my GSD was taken away in this manner, he’d be snapping by the 2nd or 3rd day. He is normally a very kind, well-mannered dog. My ACD would be depressed and non-responsive even though most days he is high-energy and extremely playful. Unfortunately, many times these places tend to do behaviour evaluations to bolster their cases but they wait several days “to let the dog settle down” but the damage may have already been done to the poor dog; the dogs are being set up for failure.
How could you??!!!! Put yourselves in her shoes or even your childs for that matter!!! Quit stereotyping the breed!!! They are precious and Darla needs her fur baby!!!!!
[…] Read the earlier story here. […]
Should be going after real criminals. who murder, and kill, rapists, child molesters, and those who abuse and hurt & neglect animals. rather than taking a dog away from an autistic child, cos of the breed he/she is. STOP THE DISCRIMINATION! and let the child have her dog back!! THANK YOU!!