FAO ganesh

[lankeela]

After the discussion on walking your dogs where there are calves, I think you ought to read this!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090621/tuk-dog-w alker-killed-as-cows-stampede-6323e80.html

[paraffin]

Well done, lankeela, you're quite right to point out the dangers of walking dogs near cattle. I have a healthy respect for cattle and give them as wide a berth as possible when walking my dogs.

Especially, as you say, where there are calves, the cows can get very protective. They may be docile most of the time but are large and heavy and, as your link proves, can be deadly.

I've heard of four or five fatalities in quite recent years but the message doesn't seem to have percolated around to some people. Either that, or they ignore the stories and simply underestimate the situation.

[ganesh]

Yes thanks lankeela,just saw it on news and I am keeping well away at the moment,though I have to say the cows concerned seem quite unalarmed at me and my dog. However,I know they can be unpredictable and protective of their little ones.
Surprised you didn't contribute to the discussion,or maybe you thought it had all been said.
Wonder when it's safe to reurn to the 'public' footpaths!

[daffy654]

The footpaths across these fields may well be 'public',but anyone in their right mind would not walk a dog across one if it was full of cattle.

[paraffin]

daffy:

It's amazing where some people will choose to take their dogs, apparently totally oblivious to the dangers or adopting a "it couldn't happen to me" approach.

[ganesh]

I disagree daffy. I've always walked through fields of cattle and so have millions of others surely. I agree it might be risky with dogs when the cows have babies,but otherwise no,they are public footpaths and the public are allowed to walk through them. It's our right of way!
Maybe the farmer shouldn't put dangerous animals in fields where there are public footpaths.!!

[paraffin]

You may have a point, ganesh:

I've certainly walked my dogs through fields with public right of way when cows have been in them, but I'm always wary of how close we get to them or vice versa.

But I'm pretty sure that the farmers don't have to make special provisions to accommodate us unless there's a bull in the field. However, I stand corrected.

It's a pity we didn't have an equivalent saying to "caveat emptor" to warn unwary dog walkers. Or do we?

[kita1]

I just heard on the news that the woman was a vet!!!

Surely a vet should have known better!

Also a farmer was just on saying that people should let their dogs go if in that situation - yes I agree as the dog will usually get away - but then the farmer could shoot the dog as technically it is loose in the field and a danger to his stock! Also people will hear him saying that and will think it is OK not to put their dogs on the lead in the first place, because a farmer said it.

It is best just to avoid walking through fields with any stock that have young - even sheep will have a go at a dog when protecting their lambs.

[daffy654]

As I said before -I know theat these fields sometimes have public footpaths through them....that doesn't mean you have to walk your dog through one when there are cattle in them.There are other (unoccupied) fields that would be far better for dog walking that have public footpaths through too you know!
If there were a public right of way through a minefield would you also insist on walking your dog there?

[tamborine]

dogs can be dangerous too ganesh.

Carry a long swishy stick to keep cattle at bay. Keep to edge of field so you can duck out if the cattle stampede. They are especially frisky now as its mating season. On no account corner cattle.

[paraffin]

For everyone's information, the relative legislation under The Animals Act 1971 provides but one defence for "killing or injuring a dog that was worrying or about to worry livestock." It finishes by stating that "there were no practicable means of establishing ownership"(of that dog).

Hence, if your dog does "worry livestock", it cannot be a defence for a farmer, or anyone, to kill or injure it if you are present. Therefore the very act of killing or injuring a dog deemed to have been "worrying livestock" is in itself an offence, contrary to popular myth.

[wolf63]

It is easy to get complacent when walking near cows or walking down the side of their field. Cows look so docile and approachable.

They are huge animals and can move at a pretty fast speed when they want to. Many a cowboy has been killed due to stampeding cattle - in Westerns anyway.

[kita1]

I know of a number of cases where a dog was shot when the owner was within a few feet of the dog, one man was actually out jogging with his dog slightly in front of him on common land, he rushed his dog to the nearby vets but it died in his arms shortly after arriving at the vets. None of the farmers were ever prosecuted.

Most farmers that are prepared to shoot dogs will do so and ask questions later.

[paraffin]

Hi kita:

Yes, I don't doubt that at all. It's just that without being unkind, most people are ignorant about what the Law actually is regarding this.

It has indeed been a long held fallacy that a farmer has a legal right to shoot a dog dead under any circumstances if the dog's deemed to be worrying the livestock, but the Law says something else.

Let's hope that none of us ever needs to put it to the test?

[ganesh]

I can understand a farmer getting angry if a dog is chasing sheep or causing problems with cattle when there are babies,but you should be safe walking through a public right of way especially when your dogs are on leads. I think with this recent case the dogs were on leads. In my experience cows have no problems with people or dogs on or off the lead,most farmers own dogs as well and they must be used to them.
When they get over-protective with their calves then of course you need to be careful and maybe avoid them.
Our farmer has got a sign at the entrance to the fields just saying 'please keep your dogs under control when there is livestock present 'but is quite happy for them to be off the lead. Maybe he is unusually friendly,but sometimes they have no respect for walkers.,stick barbed wire all over the place ,and as parrafin says think they have the right to kill your pets just by entering their fields!

[paraffin]

There is another important factor which has been mentioned here: firearms.

The Firearms Act is a very complicated piece of legislation which has been amended and improved over the years following, for example, the atrocities at Hungerford, then later Dunblane.

A farmer, like anyone else, is not automatically entitled to have firearms and the laws on obtaining certificates for these deadly weapons has also been stiffened over the years.

As I said, the legislation is very complex but a farmer, for example, cannot just ride around in his tractor or land rover in possession of firearms, let alone use them, without lawful authority.