Pit bulls handed over to council in Antrim

In the North, owners have been handing over their illegal pit bull terriers ahead of an amnesty in the town of Ballymena, Co. Antrim.

It's the first such amnesty of its kind, intended to persuade owners of the dangerous dogs to allow them to be humanely destroyed without fear of prosecution.

The fad of owning pit bull terriers is particularly prevalent in some working class areas.

That includes some of the tough loyalist estates in Ballymena where the local council has come up with the idea of an amnesty to persuade people to hand them over.

The amnesty begins in January and lasts all month with the town council's dog warden, Nigel Devine, saying two animals have already been handed over.

Both were put down.

The amnesty comes in the wake of a horrific pit bull attack on a family in Co Armagh in November.