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A decision by Northern Ireland’s highest court to condemn a family pet to death has prompted furious protests by supporters around the world.

Lennox, a seven-year-old pitbull-type dog, is set to be destroyed after the Court of Appeal rejected a last-ditch legal bid to save his life.

The ruling comes despite a long and costly court battle which has made headlines and attracted interest from as far afield as Australia and the United States.

Some supporters have even written to Prime Minister David Cameron to call for him to intervene.

Lennox has been detained at a secret location since May 2010, when he was seized by Belfast City Council officials.

The dog was deemed to be a banned American-type pitbull terrier and assessed as a danger to the public.

He has been on death row for nearly two years, and two lower courts had already ruled he should be destroyed.

The case went to the Court of Appeal after lawyers for Lennox’s owner, Caroline Barnes, argued the dog had never attacked anyone and wasn’t dangerous.

On Tuesday three senior judges dismissed Ms Barnes' appeal.

Lord Justice Girvan, sitting with Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan and Lord Justice Higgins, set out how dog wardens who tried to examine and measure Lennox in May 2010 were told by a man it would “rip their head off”.

Nearly 130,000 people have signed a petition calling for him to be returned to his owners, while a Save Lennox website has been set up.

Last night support was piling in for Lennox from across the world….

Minutes after the court’s verdict was announced, Janne Thiebaud from Tasmania in Australia contacted the Belfast Telegraph to express her anger at the ruling….

“It is just so cruel because none of this should be happening. It has been proven Lennox is not a pitbull. People all over the world have offered to take him, but rather than do that and give him a life, they want to kill him.”