Second Edition CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIII, Issue 12, 11 May 1912, Page 6

Second Edition CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

At the Magistrate's Court, Stratford, yesterday, John Neilscn, a carter, was charged that between, the loth dav of April and the Ist day of May, 1912, ho did, at Cardiff, cruelly ill treat a horse,.'by allowing it to wander on the publ ; e' road without proper care and attention, when it was suttermg from an injured knee. Sergeant MeNeely conducted the case for the police, and Mr. Robert Spence appeared for the defendant, Mr W G K- Kenrick was on the bench. Ernest',Harvey, nf Kapoiiga, butcher, said on the 20th April last he was riding through Cardiff. It was at night. There was a horse feeding on the side of the road/ and his horse too!; fnVMj and jumped foyer another horse which was lying on the road. When hu horse was jumping over the other animal the latter got up, throwing Ins " horse down, and bursting its knee open. He took his horse to Mr. Ferret* s farm, got Mr. Perrett to get some hot water. "I cleaned and bandaged the knee," witness went on to say, "and left the horse there, and saw Neilson, the the horse from me tor £6 10b, he be,n . the owner of the horse which caused the action. The horse should have recovered with proper caro . Ine kneecap was not broken, and the lioiae could walk." . ' , , The next witness, Frank Bird Wei k , of "the Court, deposed that on Ihuu,<lay, 25th of April he had cause to ao along the Opunake Rood. He sv%» the hotse-'with a broken knee, on tie side of the road, near the gravel pit at Cardiff, and again on Friday it was om the other s : de of the road ceding Sn grass. Again, on the . Morioay, lie saw it on the side of the road about half a mile away from where it was on Thursday. Ihe wound on the knee was discharging a matter or fluid. The horse must, have been in great pain, having to wander a Unit to procure food. The horse, having to move, would prevent the wound in a clean loose : box, the wound messed at least twice a day. jit also have been given soft food, sue! . as grass and a bran mash and rolurd " feed. He had ten years' expenence, doing the work of a veterinary surgeon amongst horses. When he last saw the Sit would have been almon impossible to sew up the wound or the cut which was into the mint of the knee, was in a bad state, w;rn proud flesh and swelling. , Constable McGowan stated that he saw the horse on Thursday night April 30th. It was then ff*vn% on tite s'de of the road, and i here was another horse with it. He siaw that the horse had one of its knees hurst 6pen The horse was not touching the load I with its hoof. Ho returned next mornL, and saw the horse n a boot the same place, and could sec the bone m 8? wound, which was w«*Wß.ng h attfir He saw the defendant, «ho the best thing to do was to shoo it, as ho had no paddock or stable to nut the horse in. t .'. ■-■ ■'.-: P Sergeant McNeely that in consequence bf information t&*&M f went to ,sce the horse on the 1W Mat. He found it standing on the road. It was badly injured on -the knee. There was an open worm.tight inches long, three inches wide, t -.as full of matter, Which was tunt. ng dowif the leg. He went and saw defendant, who told him that m .defendant) was the owner ox hie hpr.e. Defendant said that he (he Sergey l) had better shoot t. fliedefcimi.nt Sid he had bathed the wound Hit be himself had seen no evidence of it. He s-iid the horse was not getting, pi ope' attend, and:the:defeiidantsa,dhe had no stable and.paddock. lie led thorse slowly towards Stratford, w. h distance the horse snowed fclgu.- t.i Seat pain and would •»« go Hutu./. fie took it into a settler's place, tee ■ defendant arrived ar.d gave, nan authoritv to shoot it, v lntfi he <rd. , 01 To Mr. Spence: He nad the mruved leg cut off arid brought .r.to m t Neilson said the b-nsemut, been on the road since Monday. , . Arthur M. Spiltaan, .being duly sworn, deposed that he <aw n leg ot a KEw'at the Police Station. It hod a bad wound on the knee, »s*\cn oi c ... inches long. There was no Wy™J« 0 of attention of any kind "» Ae winiJ. Two ligaments were severed at> I i - wound could not heal. Iftflam. i -on had set in, and the wound was tight across the. knee joint. he lunse should have been slung up au' t tnc wound properly attended to. Wanderincron the road would cause great pam arid would keep the wound open. I hero was no chance of curing the wound. as he saw the leg. The boisa would not move much to feed, and would not lie down. He called Mason's (vet surgeon) attention to the ligaments- being severed. A horse in that nonditiCn could not lie down without great pan. This closed the case for the police Mr. Spence contended that active and not passive cruelty must be prov-

ed in cruelly ill-treating an animai. Ho quoted Powell v. Knight in support of this contention. Passive cruelty was not punishable under the Police Offences Act. He called the defendant, John Noilson, who stated on oath that he had bought the horse on Apnl - , On the following Tuesday morning he washed the horse's knee at the camp, using Jeyes' fiyid and warm water. He put the horse in a paddock containing about a third of an acre of land Tnere was a step grade from the paddock to the road, and the horse remained in the paddock till the following Sunday. On Monday the horse Was out on tne

roacT, the rails from the paddock being clown. In the meantime he had washed the horse's knee every morning. He saw the horse lie down and get tip. He went to set Mr. Cuthbcrtson to come and see the horse, and lie said he would come next day. He found the horse about half a mile down the road, and left it there, as he was working his way towards Stratford. He expected Mr. Cuthbcrtson to come and take the horse away. On Tuesday morning ho washed the horse with Jeyes' fluid, •and When he saw Servant McNeely, he (witness) said: "Jf the horse is suffering pain by all means destroy it. He dTd not think the horse was suffering pain. i To Sergeant. McNeely: Ine paddock was on the side of the road, and was not being used by anyone. There was a fair picking in it. The horse was five days there, and three on the road. He had no right to the paddock, and knew the horse was on the road on the Monday. He thought the horse would stick to the side of the road, which was hilly. The animal would have to climb to get grass. He last washed the knee on the morning of Tuesday, the 30th of April. Alexander Cuthbcrtson, County Ranger, said he attended horses, but was nonqualified. The defendant called upon, him to go and see the -horse. It should have been kept on K'*ass, and the paddock was a good place to keep 'it. On the Tuesday defendant said the horse was on the road. He (witness) suggested if it was going in the direction of Stratford to let it go. To Sergeant McNeely: Defendant Cw—

told him (witness) it was a nasty wound, and told him ho had taken the bandage off. Defendant asked him il he would look after the horse. He had not seen the horse, and thought it was ‘better walking about than in a loosebox, with a wound as described. He did not say it was better wandering about the road. Edward Mason gave evidence that lie was a qualified veterinary surgeon. He had seen the .horse’s leg at the Police Station on Wednesday. He got it on Saturday, 4th of May. It was a very bad, ugly gash, and a horrible looking wound. He opened the joint and examined tne leg. He found theie was no fluid running from the joint. There was a flow of matter; there was no fiow of oil. The binding ligament was severed, and another- torn in one place. On the inside of the knee the ffosli was badly bruised. There was no decay, but there was inflammation, it was an awfully bad-looking wound, though the horse need net have been destroyed. Ho thought there was a great granulation which should have been stopped. In four or six months the horse could have done work on a

farm. Of course, he did not sec the horse. Ho thought from the stables he had seen in Stratford, the horse would be as well outside. J eyes’ fluid was noi a healing treatment; it was only keeping the wound clean. The horse must have had pain,, but he did not think it would be very excessive if it lay down and got up again. The wound was clean. Tho horse was in good condition. Cross-examined by the police, witness said there was no sign of the lioyfeo dragging its leg. The wound might 'be eight inches when the leg was bent, and would look worse than if the leg was straight. In giving judgment, the Magistrate found there was cruelty in not feeding the horse and permitting it to wander to find food. In fining the defendant £3 ho took into consideration the fact that the defendant had washed the wound. Defendant was also ordered to pay .Cl Is witnesses’ expenses.