Pet calf dragged behind car

Press, 20 February 1989, Page 1

Pet calf dragged behind car

=. By NEIL CLARKSON A' pet calf suffered leg in* juries when dragged by a rope behind a car for nearly a kilometre at Jacksons, west of Otira. The 15-month-old animal, its front, legs stripped of flesh to the bone, was put down as soon as it was found by its owner, Mr Gavin Case, who is publican of Jacksons Tavern. “Whoever did it is very, very sick," Mr Case said yesterday. The pet calf, known as Blacky

by Mr Case’s four children, all aged under eight, died bn Friday evening. ■ ; Mr Case said Blacky and another pet calf, Browny, grazed along a kilometre stretch of roadside between his taven and the Stanley Gooseman bridge. ‘ The animals were tied to fence posts and periodically shifted. On Friday evening, cattle from a nearby paddock escaped on to the road and Mr Case and

a local farmer mustered them back into a paddock.•; Blacky had got her rope tangled and this was freed. The two were left at 9.15 p.m. tethered about 79m from the tavern. “About 10.39 p.m. three people came in and said there was a black and white calf lying by the Stanley Gooseman bridge, with its front legs sheared off at the knees,” Mr Case said. - Mr Case and a local .farmer went to investigate. . The pair found a trail of blood

on the road. “We turned the. corner towards Inchbonnie and there was a pool of blood 18in wide for the next 200 m, Mr Case said. r

“We came to the calf. We had to tie its back legs and cut its throat oh the spot.” Constable Niall Shepherd, of Otira, has appealed for witnesses. 7

“It’s obviously the work of a sick mind ... to do that to what was virtually a pet animal,” he said. - -