Gamekeeper jailed for horrific fox attack (From The Northern Echo)
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Gamekeeper jailed for horrific fox attack
6:59pm Monday 14th March 2011 in News
A FORMER gamekeeper has been jailed for 16 weeks after he admitted filming an horrific attack by two dogs on a trapped fox.
The footage taken by Stephen Metcalfe on his mobile phone was so distressing that it made one of the magistrates cry when viewed in court.
The 32-year-old claimed he was not directly involved in the attack - but he refused to name the two other men involved.
Kevin Campbell, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said the unidentified men had caught the fox and were keeping it in a sack with its mouth bound.
He said they told Metcalfe they wanted him to film their dogs attacking it “for training”.
The fox was then held down by its neck by one of the men, with its mouth still tied, as the dogs repeatedly tore into it at the unnamed location.
It was later shot dead by one of the men, who are both known to Metcalfe.
He had previously worked as a gamekeeper for four years and was trained in humane methods of killing animals.
Metcalfe, of Cavey Garth, West Burton, near Leyburn, North Yorkshire, admitted causing unnecessary suffering and being present at an animal fight.
Granville Rooley, mitigating, told Northallerton magistrates that Metcalfe felt intimidated by the other two men and was not directly responsible for the incident.
Sentencing him to 16 weeks in prison, the magistrates told him that he had plenty of chances to walk away. He was also banned from keeping dogs for ten years.
Comments(11)
Selbybadgerwatch
says...
9:41am Tue 15 Mar 11
MUG
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12:39pm Tue 15 Mar 11
I hope he doesnt call that sport, he even prevented the fox fighting back.
MUG
says...
12:39pm Tue 15 Mar 11
I hope he doesnt call that sport, he even prevented the fox fighting back.
Colcat
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12:58pm Tue 15 Mar 11
MUG
says...
3:56pm Tue 15 Mar 11
Trial and Error
says...
5:08pm Tue 15 Mar 11
monicam0111 wrote:You know what Monica, I cannot be bothered to look it up as ive already decided your a fool. Yes foxes are vermin but theres better ways in getting rid of them that this prize pratt did. Why dont you look them up before you comment on this ?
well to start with he is not soft as ****,,foxes are vermin,,there are worse case's out there than this i e rspca,,killing german sheperd.s look that up before you comment on this
monicam0111
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5:57pm Tue 15 Mar 11
don't tell me you've never done anyting you later regreted
Trial and Error
says...
6:29pm Wed 16 Mar 11
monicam0111 wrote:Oh wow, your little spelling mistake there made me read your comments with a Jamaican accent. Anyway, I do feel sorry for this blokes family as they also have to live the sentence.
what a load of tossers don't tell me you've never done anyting you later regreted
Spiresgame
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9:54pm Wed 16 Mar 11
Copley23
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7:01am Thu 17 Mar 11
Spiresgame wrote:I have to come down in the middle over this. I too have huge experience of gamekeeping, have never witnessed anything like this but have witnessed some sights that many would find distressing.
I happen to know this guy very well. He is a very nice careing young man and loves animals. In the gamekeeping world many things happen and are far worse than this. Unless you are in that circle you do not know or even begin to understand. Things may not be right for everyones mind. The family is absolutely suffering at this time and it is not the family who had any part to play. May I suggest you all ease up on here for their benefit it is a very sad and stressful time and above all they do not need this. They are the only ones who are able to read these comments and that is not fair.
It is a different world.
What intrigues and bothers me more however, is the pure bile that has come from many comments. Comments which wish the same on this man as he did to the fox.
How unbelievably hypocritical some people can be.
I think the fact this guy is doing some time is quite enough.
Please don't lower yourselves to this low level, let the law sort it and stand as a warning to others.
Daza says...
8:14pm Mon 14 Mar 11