PLease Take Time to read this

I have just came off the phone to Julie to be told that her Mums dogs where shot by a farmer in front of her eyes 20feet away in a field with no sheep!!!!!!!

Now the dogs had ran through a field and where unsupervised for 5 minutes NOT enough time in my opinion to do much at all....and the farmer chased them round an empty field as they where running towards the owners and shot them... one he corned and shot 5 times in front of a 65 year old and a 70 year old who where 20feet away begging him not to shoot their dogs..I am outraged at such a cold callous act!!!

The law states:

9 Killing of or injury to dogs worrying livestock

(1)In any civil proceedings against a person (in this section referred to as the defendant) for killing or causing injury to a dog it shall be a defence to prove—

(a)that the defendant acted for the protection of any livestock and was a person entitled to act for the protection of that livestock; and

(b)that within forty-eight hours of the killing or injury notice thereof was given by the defendant to the officer in charge of a police station.

(2)For the purposes of this section a person is entitled to act for the protection of any livestock if, and only if—

(a)the livestock or the land on which it is belongs to him or to any person under whose express or implied authority he is acting; and

(b)the circumstances are not such that liability for killing or causing injury to the livestock would be excluded by section 5(4) of this Act.

(3)Subject to subsection (4) of this section, a person killing or causing injury to a dog shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to act for the protection of any livestock if, and only if, either—

(a)the dog is worrying or is about to worry the livestock and there are no other reasonable means of ending or preventing the worrying; or

(b)the dog has been worrying livestock, has not left the vicinity and is not under the control of any person and there are no practicable means of ascertaining to whom it belongs.

(4)For the purposes of this section the condition stated in either of the paragraphs of the preceding subsection shall be deemed to have been satisfied if the defendant believed that it was satisfied and had reasonable ground for that belief.

(5)For the purposes of this section—

(a)an animal belongs to any person if he owns it or has it in his possession; and

(b)land belongs to any person if he is the occupier thereof.


So as far as I can see what he has done is not leagal and have advised Julie she should go to a lawyer...

I also after this have started a petition to clarify the law and insist that farmers CANNOT shoot at will, unless in extreme circumstances which should be clearly written down..

PLEASE SIGN

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/DogOwnerRights/

And pass it on :'(

can I ask, why were they in the field? was it dark? have they used the field before?

the part that could cause problems is,

you would be shocked at what two dogs can do in a few mins, really you would even if there are no outward damage to sheep, if chased just now, there is a very high risk of them aborting there lambs

In real terms, no one knows what happend in the time they were unsupervised, they could have been in the next field chasing sheep, who will all be in lamb at the moment,

its a very grey area, sadly as your friends dogs were on farm land unsupervised there may not be much that can be done,

im sorry for your friends loss, but it is a stark call to remind people to keep dogs under control on farm land.

By the sounds of it they where out a walk and took off...I know they should not have been off lead and so does the poor owners, the point in the petition is that although the dog wasnt on lead the farmer had no need to do what he did how he did it....its about time some viable rules where set in place. A dog can be caught and admonid=shed and owners can be held liable ...in this day and age surely what has been done is just not right

Edited to add...I didnt think sheep would be in lamb at this time of the year...the point being the dogs where running towards the owners when he chased them shooting out his landrover and then cornered on and shot it 5 times everytime it yelped and was thrown in the air infront of teh owners who where pleading him not too, in range enough they too could have been shot....this all happened in a feild with no sheep....even if they had killed a sheep surely the moral way of dealing with this was by taking the owners to court and being reimbursed...not shoot a dog callously in front of them!

My opinion only, Im sure there will be mxed feelings on this..

thinking the same thing....? and why left unsupervised?

feel for the owners though loosing their dogs

Hope you don;'t mind me asking, but as you say they were in a field unsupervised, can I ask why they were in the field, is this some agreement they have with the farmer when his fields are empty.

Sorry I was just wondering.

So sorry to read the out-come by the way they must be devastated

its horrid when things like this happen, poss the farmer has had lots of this happening, Im sure hes really upset when he sees aborted lambs laying in the fields,
I know lots of farmers, Im pleased none own guns, they dont shoot dogs,
but they do have the odd time when dogs do cause problems, even if an owner stays around to hand over details, they are normaly fake details, they never want to pay for damage caused, its a really horrid sinario for everyone.

poor owners,poor dog
whilst i do not think dogs should be offlead and unsupervised on farmland and around livestock.........

cornered and shot 5 times ....no need for that

sorry just read your reply.

It is a grey area that they tread, they could ask a solicitor re action against the farmer, but I feel that if the Farmer states that they were anywhere near sheep they may find that they won't win.

Think this is something they need to discuss with a legal person.

I feel very sorry for the owners, but I grew up on a farm, and a dog doesn't actually have to touch livestock to put their health at risk, sheep especially as Shona has pointed out.

Very sad, but sadly the dogs were on land they shouldn't of been on, and could damage someones livelyhood.

I am very sorry for their loss, but can totally understand the farmer too in a way. Awful situation