A farmer has been accused of tying a dog to a tractor and shooting it after his sheep was savaged by a livestock worrying incident.
The farmer, Mr Dave Bell from Fife, Scotland, has received death threats after shooting the dog.
He has been accused of tying the Siberian husky to a tractor and killing it at the Balcarres Estate in Colinsburgh.
The dog’s owner, Michael McCaffrey, has claimed his pet was restrained and destroyed in front of him after entering a field of sheep at the estate on Thursday afternoon (27 April).
The farmer lost a lamb and an adult ewe in the incident, and it’s understood that further animals could yet be lost.
A source described Mr Bell as a “respected grazing tenant” who had notified the estate and police after the incident.
Mr McCaffrey accepts that his dog was in the field of sheep but says that Mr Bell did not need to resort to shooting his pet, which he says had escaped from his garden after a gate was left open.
Dog owners have a duty
Under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, dog owners have a duty to keep their pets on a short lead and away from farm animals.
The Animals (Scotland) Act 1987 provides a defence for a landowner or farmer who kills a dog to protect livestock.
Dog owners have been urged to keep their pets under control around livestock as the lambing season reaches its peak.
Recently, a farmer from Aberdeenshire shot dead a dog which killed two of his sheep.
Yesterday (2 May), it was reported that out of control dogs massacred thirty lambs on-farm in Wales, prompting the farmer to share a picture of the incident as a warning to others.
