Staff kills dog in Ladywell Fields

Last month, BC ran a guest article by a local dog-walker who wanted to start a debate about dogs on leads in Ladywell Fields.

BC is not familiar with the arcane canine community, so we assumed this issue was a fairly innocuous bit of discussion about protocol - akin to arguing the toss over whether one can serve red wine with fish - but it turned out to be incendiary stuff, causing one of the most heated arguments in recent BC history.

This week, the importance of getting this issue right has been highlighted by the sad case of a dog killed on Ladywell Fields, reported on the Facebook group "Pets of Telegraph Hill." Michelle writes:

My friend's dog has just been killed by a staff off its lead in Hilly Fields. My friend's dog was an 11year old super friendly and placid Jack Russell and her boyfriend has seriously injured hands from trying to save him - he's currently in Lewisham hospital. The young lad of about 20 with the staff ran off: the police are involved but please be careful.

UPDATE: Following some dispute of the facts in the original report, we have double-checked with the group and confirmed that the incident took place in Ladywell Fields, rather than Hilly Fields and that the attack was by a staff, rather than a pit bull, as was originally reported. These details have now been updated.

However, two members of the Pets of Telegraph Hill group have now confirmed the other elements of the story are true - and the issue just as important. Odile writes:

On hearing about this I contacted Rio's owner last week. They just live up the road from me. She confirmed that the attack and the death of Rio is saddly correct and that they are devasted as well as traumatised. However, she said it happened in Ladywell Fields, not Hilly Fields.