Why should the farmer be out of pocket?

Sir, - We have often heard the comment that “the law is an ass.”

However it is not that the law in itself is an ass but rather the interpreters of it.

Reference the case of the farmer in Kinross who was informed that an apparently out-of-control dog was attacking his flock of 60 black-faced sheep and had been for some 20 minutes.

The farmer used his crook in an attempt to ward off the dog, and in the process hit it before grabbing it.

As a dog lover myself I would normally deplore hitting any animal, but any reasonable person would recognise the need to intervene, particularly as the owners were unable to get the dog under control.

Matter resolved one might expect, but not so.

Instead the farmer was charged by the police with “threatening behaviour” and issued with a £40 fine.

Commonsense ought to have prevailed in this case, in that the law gives farmers the right to shoot dogs considered to be worrying livestock, and indeed had the farmer invoked his right and shot the dog instead, no penalty would have been implemented.

The police might have asked instead how a dog was allowed loose in the first place in the vicinity of a flock of sheep?

Interestingly this incident comes on the back of a month-long police campaign urging dog owners to exercise common sense when livestock is around.

It is just a pity that the latter appears to be at a premium and a farmer protecting his flock is out of pocket. David L Thomson. 24 Laurence Park, Kinglassie.

Picture Phil Hannah Johnathan Sloane, the Kinross farmer issued with a fine.