Farmer cleared of causing unnecessary suffering to a dog by shooting it

A FATALLY injured family dog was shot dead within sight of its owner by a farmer as an act of mercy, magistrates heard.

The four-year-old Doberman, called Cedar, had earlier been seen by farmer Keith Marshall “tossing a lamb like a toy” in a field off Ings Lane, close to Waltonwrays Cemetery, Skipton.

Mr Marshall, 59, had shot it once with his 12 bore shotgun and then again from his Toyota 4×4, killing it instantly.

Mr Marshall, of Broughton Road, Skipton, was cleared of causing unnecessary harm to the dog by the town’s magistrates who said he had acted humanely and reasonably and had prevented rather than caused further suffering.

During the two-day trial the court heard how Cedar meant everything to its owners, Mathew and Lucy Hill.

The dog regularly went to work with Mr Hill, a manager at R&B Electricals, Carleton Road, where it would play in the compound with two other dogs, but it had gone missing on April 7.

It was seen running back towards its shouting owner and was around 100 metres away when Mr Marshall shot it for the second time.

Mr Marshall, a full-time farmer for 24 years, said he had come across 50 sheep and 100 lambs huddled together and had seen the dog dragging a lamb and throwing it, as if it was ‘playing with it’.

He said he had cut the throat of the lamb, which had been unconscious and bleeding, to put it out of its misery.

Magistrates said Mr Marshall was an experienced farmer and shot, that the dog had been a threat to his livestock and had continued to be a possible threat to the public even though it had been ‘near extinction’.

Richard English (instructed by Forbes Solicitors) represented Mr Marshall.