SHOT AT STRAY BULL

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 849, 18 December 1929, Page 7

SHOT AT STRAY BULL

YOUNG FARMER FINED OWNER ALSO PENALISED From Our Oicn Correspondent PUKEKOHE, Today. j Something in the nature of a feud between two families at Kopuku in the Mercer district reached its climax recently when two charges of ouckshot were administered to a bull on the roadside. The sequel was the appearance o i both parties in the Pukekohe Court yesterday. A young man, P. A. Thompson, was charged with unreasonably shooting a bull to cause it undue suffering and with wilfully damaging the bull, while C. .T. Brake was charged with permitting a bull to wander on the road. Thompson told the court that the bull was frequently on the roads, ami on the date in question gained access to his farm. It viciously attacked a small bull owned by witness. Witness fired two shots at the trespasser at a range of 60 yards. Drake had shown ill-t'eeling for years. A police constable summoned from Mercer said the bull was not bady injured. When returning from the district on the following 'day he observed Drake’s bull on the road. The property was not fenced. Drake said he had let the bull out of the stockyard and had entered his residence to obtain the coat left there by the constable on the previous clay. He denied that the bull could have gained the road in the space of a few min Lites. No ill-feeling existed on his part. Another police officer said many complaints had been made about the bull.. It had. been described as being a dangerous animal. The magistrate, Mr. E. C. Cutten, made it clear that the bull should not be permitted to be at large on the roads, as such animals, no rnaUer how docile, were inclined to be dangerous at times. Thompson was fined £1 with costs on the first charge and convicted on the second. Drake was fined £2 with £ 1 costs.