Petition to keep dog handler with retiring officer gets more than 120,000 signatures

More than 120,000 people have signed a petition to keep a police dog with her handler after he retires later this year.

Sergeant David Evans, from Market Drayton, is due to retire in April after more than thirty years working for the police. The 59-year-old has worked with Ivy, a Malinous-German Shepherd cross, for four years and had hoped to take her with him into retirement.

However, West Mercia Police confirmed in a statement last week that it was felt to be in the "best interests of the dog and the force" for Ivy to continue working as a police dog.

Sergeant Evans' family say their local MP Owen Paterson has been contacted by several constituents about Ivy's story and that he has written to the police about their situation.

The family have pledged to keep up their fight for Ivy to stay with Sergeant Evans after he retires.