Legal challenge to save Max the dog amid pit bull assessment

An emergency briefing was called at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) following pressure from the environment committee chair Pat Catney, as well as a number of elected representatives.

Suspected Pit Bull puppy, ‘Max’, was found in Dundonald in early December (2024) and is due to be euthanised after two council dog wardens deemed he was a banned type under Breed Specific Legislation (BSL).

Councillors have now been informed a third party assessor confirmed Max is a Pit Bull type dog, which could seal his fate on death row.

However, the “abysmal” handling of appointing a third party assessor has caused animal campaigners and elected members concerns with fears of a council “cover up” to euthanise the dog.

Deputy environment committee chair, Gary Hynds spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), saying: “I supported the call from Councillor Catney for a special, emergency meeting of council regarding Max.

“As a council, we have quite clearly not worked closely, or in partnership, with the USPCA as was the commitment from our council publicly.

“I feared this would be the case, which is why I made a formal proposal for the USPCA to be able to jointly agree the assessor.

“Unfortunately not one other councillor backed me in that effort. I made my proposal because I feared what has happened since, would happen.

“I ask other councillors to reconsider my original proposal, in the hope that it isn’t too late.

“This has been handled abysmally and is just absolutely terrible.”

Over 12,000 people have now signed an online petition so save Max. The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands that legal representation has been made to the council concerning the assessment of Max.

The LDRS asked the USPCA if it had made a legal challenge to LCCC. A spokesperson said: “No comment at this point.”

Dog carer, Zara Duncan was moments away from fostering Max in December (2024) until LCCC wardens stepped in and put the puppy into the pound in the mouth of Christmas.

She said: “The way the council is acting is causing considerable doubt of what is going on, it looks like there is a cover up.

“This is a PR disaster for the council who are using tax payers money and not providing the public with transparency on this.

“Everything signposts to a very sticky situation that the council has found themselves in.

“We had been told by councillors that there had been an agreement for the council to work with the USPCA, now this has not been done.

“Instead the chief executive and his director have chosen their own assessor and not taken into account anything from the USPCA. The next 48 hours could be crucial for Max.

“My fear is that the council will go ahead with their assessor’s view and euthanise Max.”

Chief Executive of the USPCA, Nora Smith said: ”There has been huge public interest in Max and it is of great importance that the council would have public trust and transparency in how they are assessing him. I don’t believe this is being done.

“The council had indicated to councillors that they would work with us, though we have had limited communication from them.

“We went to the meeting with the council and we were told that they had already chosen a third party assessor, we were very disappointed.

“We asked who the assessor was, but the council would not tell us.

“There are only a handful of people who can professionally and independently assess a dog.

“I spent the whole time over Christmas researching independent assessors. We had three CVs of dog assessors to hand over, who have no links to the USPCA, but these were not even considered.”

The CEO added: “We are actively campaigning to repeal the legislation, which is 30 years old and has not done what it set out to do.

“The dogs are being put to sleep, just because of the way they look and not the way they act.

“We are still holding out hope that the council will decide to work with us, we believe it is the best option for Max. There is still time for the council to make that decision, it is not a forgone conclusion.

“We understand the council has a difficult job to do and if Max was considered to be a banned breed by an agreed independent assessor, we would respect that.”

A spokesperson for LCCC said: “On December 10, 2024, an abandoned dog was collected from the Dundonald area. We have since established the age of the dog to be at least nine months old.

“It was assessed and determined to be a Pit Bull Type, which is a banned breed under The Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (as amended) and therefore illegal to own without a valid exemption certificate.

“Following significant public concern, council agreed that no further action would be taken until an additional, independent assessment could be conducted to provide further assurance in relation to the breed of the dog.

“An independent and highly experienced Dog Legislation Officer conducted the independent assessment on Wednesday January 15, 2025. The outcome confirmed the results of the initial assessment and determined the dog as a Pit Bull Type.

“Elected Members were briefed at a meeting on January 16, 2025. It was agreed that no further action would be taken until clarification was sought on a related legislative matter.

"This remains a very challenging situation for all concerned.

"We continue to encourage the owner of the dog to contact the council as soon as possible.”