ANGUS MAN’S XL BULLY EUTHANISED AFTER REGISTRATION DELAY
An XL bully from Angus which was not registered in time has been euthanised, a court heard.Sentencing had been deferred multiple times for 36-year-old Lee McKay to have his unexempted pet properly registered.
However McKay, of Shamrock Street in Carnoustie, was caught in a Catch-22 of not being able to get the dog neutered without paperwork and not able to get paperwork without the dog being neutered.
At an earlier court hearing, he admitted possessing the dog without adequate paperwork between August 1 and 4 last year.
Prosecutor Jill Drummond told Forfar Sheriff Court McKay had been the owner of one-and-a-half year-old female American Bully-cross Maisie.
From August 1 2024, it became an offence to own an XL Bully without an exemption certificate or having applied for an exemption certificate.
McKay was reported by neighbours concerned Maisie was in breach of the breed ban, although the dog was not involved in any aggression.
The 22-inch-tall animal was inspected but McKay initially denied it was an XL Bully.
His solicitor Billy Rennie labelled the bureaucracy surrounding retrospective exemptions “a bit of a minefield.” He said: “Unfortunately the dog’s been put down.
He couldn’t get an exemption certificate.” Sheriff Jillian Martin-Brown admonished McKay.
