Woman is fined £3,000 after pony suffered ‘severe pain’

A WOMAN has been fined more than £3,000 after allowing a Shetland pony to suffer in ‘severe pain’ for at least a week.

Margaret Greaves, 65, delayed having 11-month-old Zafira put down, even though the animal was unable to walk and having a wound that was ‘worn down to the bone’.

She told Aberdeen Sheriff Court last week she did so in the hope it would remedy itself, despite vets saying the pony should be euthanised.

The court heard how between June 28 and July 4 last year Zafira had suffered an injury caused by fence wire. Zafira was eventually put down, but only after ‘at least seven days’ of suffering, having endured necrosis and infection. Greaves, pictured, admitted allowing the pony to ‘suffer unduly’ in her care at a farm steading at Balcraig, near Kintore, Aberdeenshire.

Sheriff Graeme Napier told Greaves that in light of the pain and suffering she caused Zafira he would fine her £3,375. However, he did not disqualify her from working with horses.