ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF A HORSE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11224, 6 April 1904, Page 6

ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF A HORSE.

Xt tlieTffflgptrateVeortt't this mornnig, before Mr R." I,. S tanford, 8.TV1., Daniel Scally was charged "with iJI-trpating a certain animal, a grey mare, by neglecting to properly attend to such -animal while it was •suffering from a diseased loot. . Mr Barnicoat appeared for the prosecutfon and- Mr ttohen for defendant. • •

Mr Barnicoat briefly opened the case, and called

Duncan Blair, who stated that he saw the mare, "which -was grazing in a paddock at Rapamii, stiffering from a bad fetlock. He haoSseen the snimal at vaiious times since, the.-, last time 4ast week,- when the- fetlock was in a very bad state, the sore being flyblown. He. considered that the. mare was suffering; u& &&■ waft banging her head on the ground. By Mr Cohen. — The mare was in good condition, and was in a good paddock. In -such a case he would get a veterinary surgeon. •• -He would dress the would himself, and if that failed to do the animal any good I he- ifouid shoot iti ></ - By'Mrß'ainiooat'.— The- mare had a distinct limp. She rested the leg on the-ground but without any weight. By his rWarship.-THe would hardly like to ffivfran'O'pinJbn-'asvtb whether the fetlock wbb curable, ■ ■ ■ Walter Park stated that he had seen the mare at Rapanui during the month. The foot was very .much swollen, and he should aay it Was simply rotten. The hair had not been cutaway. In January he had seen maggots in the sore.. He had never seen anyone atfcfeadiiig to ijt. fie had noticed a very Btrong-BHietl frVan the spT& fcwo'inbnthß ago. The mare put no weight on the foot when 'standing or walking. A most offensive smell name 'from the" sore. ' B^ Mr^hen-.-^fl'lrad see^i -the ownerlßading the mare to water, but had never drawn his attention to the^sore. The mare was ia goodfcondi&on^Jbut it did not, follow from this tnat the" mare waa riot suffering pain, -■ ' , „ ■ John- IL. Eowe, insurance agent, living aear Rapanui,- had seen the mare in question. He had Tnever seea anyone attend:»'g to it. The animal had a very bad fetlock, which looked in urgent want of attention.- •■ \ - " . , , , . *By'W Cohen.— He "did -not know who the owner was uatil the last few .weeks. Had he known and seen Mr Scally he would 7 ,hp;e 'called . his attention to the condition of 'thY attimal .

Constable Campbell stated that he first knew of the condition of the animal about the end of January, when he called Mr Sc»Wy'B.;atteWtion ,to it, -and the latter stated that ! Mr TSdgar had eiamined the mare anS could not do anything for her. He then 'described the wound, w3ii<sli was in a very bad state. Mr Edgar had denied that;he, ; had«beett requested to examine the animal at that time. By Mr'CoheJi.r- ; -Mr Scally told him that the horse was not suffering any harm, and appeared to be convinced t>n that point. ,

Maxwell Edgar, veterinary surgeon, practising in ."Wanganui",' stated that by Mr ScaJly's .-request he had seen a |jrey mare on the 31st March. He had not previously Been : the mare.>. '.Thete were tumours on the fetlock, which- bore no appearance of hating been 'attended to. It was apparently a long-standing complaint. In his opinion the disease w»s incurable, ' and the mare should be destroyed. Had the animal been treated."s z 6ohei' it would not have been in such a Bad* con'diition, and ' the pain would 4iave. been alleviated to a certain extent. " ".

-By Mr Gohen^— He did- not think that th« mare had been .suffering great pain. The mare was in good condition when he examined her.' He would not be at all snrprkea .that ,t&e mare had,,- had the complfttuct for *■$»& years." It wa# not torture to'lkeep the mare alive.

By Mr Barnicoat. — In his opinion there traa' a considerable amount of irritation «i^' M (K»ifi^J»^^^;Aß» : -'h%^oftflideEed^the w.ound incurable it was therefore cruelty to keep the animal alive. By Mr Cohen. — He 'did hot think the animal had been 'suffering eicessiVe" pain.' Ternon r Banks; veterinary surgeon, said he. Jaa_d *>ei\ the. "animal, recently. He agr4ed i: w{tii;'Jir 'ESgar'B evidence "more or less. " He did. not agree that the horse should be shot. He. did' not think she was suffering a; great amount of pain. He did iib't think animals suffered the same as hilman beings. Be thought the tumours incurable. -I'robably the mare had originally'ei^ffisjred eonsidpr&ble pain. . He should, ear th(W?aiai»al 'Jiad been neglected; tlie dißeaße"was' /chronic, 'but would not get m'uch'worse. If'it got any worse he would \ recommena the mare being destroyed. The wound requited "daily attention.

By Mr Cdhen. — He..dicL no;t, think |lj.,e^ animal ;was in intense pain when he saw • it. It was not torturing the animal ,to I keep it alive, in hM opinion. Aa-it wasela chronic case' he thought the- -'mare was suffering from irritation rather than from pain. By Mr Barnicoat.—^£he .mare was .not iyt fopifWoiJ^j-aii^ nejre* vKagj^-be.-'' > ':/.*. i. 1 Mr- Co^^tubroitted^thiai the defendant could n>st be convicted of ill-treating the hoi^evdnttpljr^because hfc Had -.'omitted to haro : it ■• *fcttt|jhtered. "Though there jn^y haVe" 'bfeen-. tiom'e-' ' of " the -wound, there ,*w«s ' ho 5 -levidenee •of • v the defendant being. -;«Ware'' that f tlte ?mare. was suffering 4nuch pain. In fact the -evidence went / i6^shßW' v tKat > th«re was room' foi doiibt ati'lrrf'whetlter-theaniihal was sifffer-ing-^ny Considerable pain. He submitted that, 'front- 1 authorities quoted, the defend'ftflf could -not be convicted on this charge. He'e'allet .".'.-^ : - _ < •,_ Daniel, Scaljy, who stated, that he had a rgrey! '.mafel which he bought for ,£lB gome two "years ago. The fetlock was then in mjuch the same condition as now. He had attended to the sore scores -of .timep, by washing it and" dressing it. He had sought advice, buty "not professional, in 'the matter. During the month of Mardh. he fead dressed the sore three times." He did nofc.eu't the hair, as he thought by ho 00 doing the animal would be more likely j to ?^jib. v |,he f 'ftprei < agaHist^tlj.e gr^ss.; „Tlie maSre waa^m boffiicdnditidn. ,He',took' Tsr Edga*r Xffl Wse% the 'mart be'forV this'information was laid. Mr Edgat paid nothing could be 'done for her 1 , -as thewou'rid j was incurable.'

By -Mr Barnicoat. — He believed the mare tva« in- foal. He believed the foot was in »Tl^r'th«[-iaftta(KL'C!<todttion .flow a*-wken' he gdt^ii^' He drtjasedj. the ?.«ore" after Mr Eaifir'^iad seen the marei previously -got a hint that the police were going to "prosecute him. He knew that the mare had -had maggots in its foot, but he oily saw them on one occasion. He did not 'suppose that anyone had seen- him ' e,t-, tending to' thte'-mare*. The mare <waa" going afbfetlt dS-.Htfr h^-not three. " This closed the evidence. His. Worihip. -said the only question for him "to determine was , the degree of crtieliy, antl from the expert , evidence it appeared that the defendant had not brought JamVelf tinder the operation of the "Act. • He quite accepted the expert ' opinion that the mare was not suffering, th^t degree of pain that it amounted' to •e4i2»lty < %oVkeepfhetf!aKve. "Under these circumstances, and going/ by^ -the authorities quoted iH the case,, ,hV Hereford considered that he must dismiss the charge: . .