Man’s Best Friend
A council had seized an animal they suspected to be of a “dangerous breed” and were going to terminate it. Naturally, the owner objected and said that it was neither a dangerous breed nor inherently violent, so of course the matter ended up in the tribunal. The councils’ representatives enlisted a very well-renowned veterinarian as their “expert witness” to prove their case, and that the animal should be put down.
The way this is proven is through a check of facial and certain muscular dimensions, as well as a specialized consensus that the dog does resemble a dangerous breed. On the other hand, the owner had managed to get a very niche and rather eccentric “animal psychologist” as their expert witness, despite the fact that they could not contest the measurements. Now, here’s where things get interesting.
The council’s representatives were headed by a particular solicitor notorious for being a total piece of work. He’d waltz in a minute before the proceedings begin, yell, and indirectly threaten the defendants and talk over them during their submissions. Even the judges thought this guy was a tool. The first day goes horribly for the defendant.
His wife had gone into labor that morning and he was five minutes late. To make things worse, the smartass solicitor set out to devote the entire first day to attacking and undermining both the owner and the animal psychologist’s credentials and behavior. “If you can’t leave your wife’s bedside to defend your dog, then you mustn’t care about it at all,” and “I’m amazed you got a job with such a pointless degree”.
After a very intense first day of proceedings, the second day opened with the applicant’s expert witness. The veterinarian just finished giving evidence that the animal does in fact match the anatomical measurements and the rude solicitor starts laughing OUT LOUD, announcing “We’ve already won this, I don’t think you need to say anymore”.
The veterinarian jumps up at this remark yelling at the solicitor and causing nonsense to break loose until the judge finally calls an adjournment in the matter, and most people leave the room except for the veterinarian and the defendant. Fast forward a fortnight and the matter is reheard, only this time, the veterinarian is now part of the defendant’s expert witness lineup and the applicants have a graduate zoologist as theirs.
It turns out that since the rude solicitor didn’t get a chance to tender the veterinarian’s report and statement as evidence, as well as the veterinarian not confirming that it facially resembles a dangerous breed, that the applicant’s entire case was shut down. The veterinarian defended the dog physically, saying that although the measurements matched up, the dog was very muscular but did not resemble a dangerous breed.
Then, in comes the eccentric animal psychologist lady who presents some incredibly long report along with pages and pages of research study into dog behavioral patterns. The dog is found to be neither a physically or psychologically dangerous breed. Case is adjourned within a day, the defendant gets their dog back, and the rude solicitor gets chewed out by his colleagues.
Story credit: Reddit