STOCK DEALER FINED

Evening Star, Issue 22457, 30 September 1936, Page 2

STOCK DEALER FINED

UNNECESSARY SUFFERING DF CATTLE Legal argument was heard before Mr H. J. Dixon, S.M., at Milton in the case in which William Borthwick, stock dealer, Milton, pleaded not guilty to a charge laid by the‘Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of causing unnecessary suffering to some bulls by ordering them to be trucked rom Milton to Burnside too soon after the animals had been castrated. On arrival of the consignment at Burnside two bulls and a heifer were found to be dead in the truck. Mr D. J. Sumpter appeared for the society and Mr G. H. Thomson for the defendant. Mr Thomson contended that it was necessary to prove wilful intention on the defendant’s part to cause suffering, and said that a number of witnesses had asserted that it was a common practice amongst stock dealers to castrate bulls before sending them to the market. The death of the animals was caused by struggling and suffocation. Mr Sumpter claimed that the bulls were trucked too soon after the operation, and, although the bleeding had ceased when the animals were trucked, ihe wounds had re-opened after the trucking, thereby causing the deaths. The magistrate altered the charge to one of conveying the animals in such a manner mid at such a time as to cause unnecessary suffering. The defendant was convicted and fined £1 2s court costs. £3 4s witnesses’ expenses, and £2 2s solicitor’s fee.