Man whose protests put dogs on death row says: I’m a pet lover too

The man who made the complaint about the noise from dogs barking against an animal sanctuary that could lead to the 17 animals living there being put down has defended himself and says he even owns a dog he got from them.

Bryan Longstone-Hull, 73, has lived beside the Mill House Animal Sanctuary for 43 years and owns a dog he re-homed from there three years ago, along with nine other animals.

Twin sisters Pat Hartley and Jane Wright, 70, say they can’t afford to comply with a noise abatement order.

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Retired manager Mr Longstone-Hull, who lives just yards from the sanctuary in Fulwood, and whose daughter even volunteered at the sanctuary, said: “I would absolutely never want to see an animal put down.

“The fact is we do care about animals, very much so.

“I don’t want that place to shut.”

Speaking from the home he shares with wife Sarah, 41, and daughter Olivia, 19, yesterday, Mr Longstone-Hull said that over the years he and his family have helped out at the sanctuary and his daughter is studying animal care and hopes to be a vet.

He claims the last three years have seen noise become a problem, so much so that at least one week a month he and his wife would suffer four nights of sleeplessness.

He said: “We got to a situation were we were being kept awake overnight by dogs barking and yowling on a regular basis.”

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He added that over the summer months, on weekends, his family had to leave their house because the noise was so bad.

“Where we are situated acts like an amphitheatre, we can actually hear them speaking in the yard,” he said. “When there are three or four dogs out there constantly it is very loud here.”

He made a complaint around six months ago which ultimately led to noise-measuring equipment being placed in the home for 10 days and a noise abatement order being slapped on the sanctuary.

“When they came to collect the equipment they phoned me very quickly and said we didn’t know how bad it was and we are going to have to approach them and issue them with a notice, which they did,” said Mr Longstone-Hull.

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