Popular pooch put down as thousands plead for his life

It's a sad morning for those who've followed the story of Lennox, the "pit bull-type" dog who was taken from his Belfast-based owners and ordered to be destroyed. Despite 200,000 signatures on an online petition, despite pleas from everyone from Lennox Lewis to "Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan, and despite the fact that Lennox had never harmed anyone, the 7-year-old American bulldog-Labrador mix was put down on Wednesday. "We have been denied the opportunity to say goodbye," owner Caroline Barnes wrote on Facebook. "We have also been told that we cannot collect his body and bring Len home." Thousands of offers to rehome Lennox poured in, but Belfast City Council ruled that it "would not deal with the issues in this case."