Man Convicted Of Cruelty To Dog

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32383, 24 August 1970, Page 3

Man Convicted Of Cruelty To Dog

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, August 21. James Robert Feather was alleged to have said: “We won, we won, we won that time” after he “stomped” a Great Dane dog which had fought with his cattle dog. Feather, before the Auckland Magistrate’s Court today, denied a charge of cruelly treating a dog at Waiheke Island in March.

A veterinary surgeon, Mr C. J. Gates, said he performed a post-mortem examination on the dog. He found it to have severe bruising and a ruptured liver. Haemorrhage had been caused by a heavy blow to the abdominal wall.

Colin Magnus Brown, a gar-1 age proprietor on the island,! said his dog, the Great Dane,' was about eight years old, andi was a clever and well-disci-plined animal. At 11 a.m. on March 30 he found the dog on his lawn, glassy-eyed, groggy, and bleeding. The dog died at 1.30 a.m. the next day. Claude Randall Panthers, a house supervisor, said the two dogs began to fight as Feather was cycling past Brown’s house. Witness said the cattle dog I I had the Great Dane on the i ground and was holding it by the ear or throat. Feather got j off his bicycle and hit the Great Dane with his hand, then began to kick it with a| chopping motion—“a stomp-

I ing action”—making no effort to pull his own dog off. Mr Panthers said he spoke to Feather, who said: “We won. We won. We won this time,” then got on his bicycle and rode off, his dog following. In evidence, Feather, a garage attendant, aged 41, said his own dog was “mostly Labrador” and was about five years old. Before the incident, the Great Dane had begun four other incidents with |bis dog. On the occasion in question “the Great Dane was on its back and my dog was holding it,” he said. “1 tramped on it. I thought it was very lucky that he was bottoms-up because I had seen him on all fours be-

fore, and knew I couldn’t do anythihg to him then.” . Feather said he had first punched the dog in the head, then kicked it in the stomach. The dog then got up and turned to go. For Feather, Mr P. G. O’Dea submitted that the definition of cruelty in relation to animals meant the wilful infliction on that animal of pain or suffering which in the circumstances was unreasonable or unnecessary. Mr C. E. H. Pledger, S.M., said he found that Feather had cruelly ill-treated the dog. As the charge carried a maximum penalty of three months imprisonment, he called for a probation report and remanded Feather until August 28 for sentence.