Need advice on BSL

Hi, not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but I need some advice on behalf of my cousin.

Last week her dogs were seized by the police as someone had reported her for breeding 'fighting dogs'. She has a male and female staffie cross (possibly some American Bulldog in there too) She unfortunately wasn't careful enough with them and they ended up with a litter of pups ...anyway, that's a different debate I suppose.
She has never EVER used her dogs for fighting, they are just family pets. However, as someone reported her the police have taken the dogs and want to take the puppies this week and have them put to sleep despite the fact that they still have not had an expert look at the parents to decide whether or not they are pitbull type.

Can anyone give me any advice as to what my cousin can do about this nightmare of a situation? Can the police take the puppies and destroy them? How long after being in custody should the dogs be examined by an expert? They have been there over a week so far and no one has looked at them yet- is this right? The police are assuming the dogs are dangerous despite the fact that they have shown no aggression whilst being in the police kennels.

My cousin has been terrified that this would happen and rang the police several months ago to discuss her concerns. They told her not to worry about it but yet here we are.

I don't know too much about BSL so some advice would be very much appreciated.

http://www.endangereddogs.com/DDA_PetDogSeizure.htm

This is the website for help,they're wonderful
www.the-shg.org
this is the phone number
1470 0844 7006690
They can tell your cousin exactly what legal rights she has and exactly what to do.Good luck.

No they can't just take them and pts without a court order,tell her not to sign anything as she could be signing a death warrent.
Good advice has been posted...
http://www.deednotbreed.org.uk/

tell her to visit citizens advice, they will offer free legal advice on where she stands.

This is what makes me HATE this country........ Breed legislation is a disaster...

I doubt it will be of help, but i know the Blue Cross has been campaiging with some other big-name dog charities to get the BSL changed to stop things like this happening. You could try contacting them?

I think they would need to have a blood-test to declare that they are what they think. I really really hope this ends well..

Defintely seek legal advice...... She could also go the route of contacting the local papers and media. Try giving them some really bad press, you will be surprised at how much stories like this really hit people, and they have their say and show support.

Most importantly under no circumstances.. sign ANYTHING without a legal advisor or a person who understands these things present. They will try every trick in the book, but like has already been said by others on the page.. she will be signing a death warrant. Just refuse, and take it to a court!

This is even better.

Thanks everyone for your replies and the links. I really appreciate it and will pass this on to my cousin.

It really is madness that this is allowed to happen.

The dogs, adult or puppies, can only be put down without a court order if she signs them over.
Some high profile cases have dragged on for years, for a variety of reasons, with the dogs confined in kennels for all that time

"Type" is decided on conformation, not blood tests or DNA, and experts often disagreed, so opposing experts then argue in court and the judge ultimately decides whose evident s/hefinds more convincing.

The DDA section 1 used to carry a mandatory destruction order but, if the dogs are of good character i.e. not aggressive or a danger to the public, (again this needs to be determined by an expert), the owner can ask the police to agree to a "DDA section 4a"- a" contingency destruction order" whereby the owner can legally have them back, after accepting that they are section 1 dogs, (i.e a "guilty" plea to the section 1 charge), under certain conditions: insurance, held on a lead and muzzled in public places, ID, neutering, registered address,registered on the Index of Exempt Dogs (IED)

This still needs a court case as only a court can allow additions to the IED

Even if the owner wants to fight "type" (i.e. a "not guilty" plea) Section 1, to get the dogs back free and clear without restrictions, and loses that, there can be an appeal against destruction and Section 4a exemption can still be applied for at that point.

The bad news is that each process delays things, while the dogs stay in kennels