Patrick Stewart Is In Love With This Pit Bull But Can’t Take Her Home
Due To BSL
By Matthew Russell
Sir Patrick Stewart has boldly gone where no man has gone before. He’s
honed the skills of the world’s most elite mutants into humanity’s
greatest defense. He’s haunted Elsinore, hunted the white whale, heated
the Cold War, and sparked up a giddy friendship with Gandalf that the
world can’t get enough of.
At 76 years old, Stewart holds multiple Laurence Olivier awards, a
Grammy, and even a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for a role in a Mel
Gibson film most people have already forgotten about. He’s that good;
even his bad days are applauded.
He’s advocated for and helped bring support to organizations like
Amnesty International, BeatBullying, Dignity in Dying, and Precious Paws.
It seems there’s little the modern world wouldn’t want to let this
in-between-jobs starship captain have full creative control of, so long
as it’s captured on video. All except one thing. And perhaps the
greatest of all.
Despite all his love and compassionate intention, Stewart is prohibited
from adopting Ginger, the pit bull he’s been fostering in the United
States, due to breed-specific legislation.
The Dangerous Dogs Act, introduced in 1991 in the UK, makes it illegal
for Stewart to bring Ginger back to his home. Stewart had no problem
caring for the dog, who was formerly a breeding dog for a pit bull
fighting ring, in his stateside home while filming X-Menfranchise
features, but in England, dogs like Ginger can be seized and destroyed.
When Stewart first brought Ginger home, the actor could hardly contain
his excitement, having waited 50 years to own a dog of his own.
“She only arrived a few hours ago at our house, and I’ve longed for this
moment to come,” he told *Conan O’Brien*
<http://teamcoco.com/video/adopt-sir-patrick-stewart-s-dog?playlist=x;eyJ0b3RhbCI6MTUsInR5cGUiOiJ0YWciLCJpZCI6ODYwN30>
on March 9.
It was the intention of Stewart and his wife, Sunny Ozell, to foster
Ginger in New York until they could find a permanent home for her, but
it didn’t take long for Jean Luc Picard and his pup to become fast friends.
The actor’s connection to Ginger is one he admits did not come naturally
at first. Stewart, like many others, was apprehensive about taking in a
pit bull, due in part to the stigma connected to the breed.
“I had a reaction to that, which I am now significantly ashamed of,
because pit bulls to me meant only one thing: aggression, hostility,
violence,” he told *People*
<http://people.com/pets/patrick-stewart-instagram-foster-dog-ginger/>.
“I was uncomfortable with the idea of meeting this dog,”
But comfort took little time in setting in. Stewart later attributed a
great amount of personal development to his relationship with Ginger.
“I find that my relationship to the world and to the news every day in
the papers and on the television has been changed by Ginger, because she
has brought such a quality of patience and tolerance and fun into our
lives, that it has, in a very short space of time, shifted my sense of
where our world might be going,” Stewart told People. “I literally find
myself more optimistic than I was, and there is only Ginger to account
for this. It is the impact of sharing my life for only seven or eight
days with Ginger.”
Sadly, Stewart and Ozell had to part ways with Ginger in late March, as
they returned home to England.
Patrick and I said good-bye to Ginger last week.We had fallen madly in
love, and had explored every possibility of getting her to the U.K.
(where we’d be able to give her the kind of life she deserves), but
alas, the breed specific legislation in place there really made it
ultimately impossible.We could not bear to take a risk with her life,
knowing she has a bright future ahead of her even if she’s not
“ours.”She will forever be a light of my life, and we’ll be keeping in
touch with her as much as possible.Fostering is a remarkable experience,
and I would absolutely encourage anyone considering it to take the
plunge.Thank you again to the beautiful at ASPCA and the brave at
Wagsandwalks for giving us such a profoundopportunity.
“We had fallen madly in love, and had explored every possibility of
getting her to the U.K. (where we’d be able to give her the kind of life
she deserves), but alas the Breed Specific Legislation in place there
really made it ultimately impossible,” Ozell wrote. “We could not bear
to take a risk with her life, knowing that she has a bright future ahead
of her even if she’s not ‘ours.’ She will forever be a light of my life,
and we’ll be keeping in touch with her as much as possible. Fostering is
a remarkable experience, and I would absolutely encourage anyone
considering it to take the plunge.”
Stewart has never regretted a single moment of fostering Ginger, and
continues to fight and speak out against breed-specific legislation like
the Dangerous Dogs Act in the UK.
And the captain is not alone. Along with many other Britons, the Royal
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has sought to end the
ban on pit bulls in the UK.
“It is not effective at protecting public safety and seriously impacts
the welfare of hundreds of innocent dogs every year,” Samantha Gaines,
of the RSPCA, told *Today*
<http://www.today.com/pets/patrick-stewart-can-t-adopt-pit-bull-because-uk-bans-t110069>.
“It’s so sad that a rescue dog is missing out on a wonderful, loving new
home due to an outdated piece of legislation. Her story shows just how
unfair and unjust this law is.”
Ginger has been moved into a new foster home now that Stewart and Ozell
have returned to England. Her former guardians, while sad they couldn’t
spend more time with her, are happy she will no doubt find a loving
forever home, as requests to adopt her flood the mailboxes of Wags and
Walks, the organization that first connected the Stewarts with Ginger.
“They were wonderful fosters, and got her ready for her deserving
forever home,” Wags and Walks founder Lesley Brog told Today.
Breed-specific legislation can split families apart, and when one of
those family members relies on the other for mental and physical
support, the results can be nothing short of life-threatening. Thousands
of service members live on military bases across the world and deal with
this tough situation every day. Not all of their family is welcome on
base with them, namely their dogs.
***
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon
thee, and be gracious unto
thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. —
Numbers 6:24-26
_________________________________________________________________
