A man has been ordered to carry out unpaid work after a dog he was walking “overpowered” him and attacked a cat.
Mark Forrest had been looking after the animal for someone else at the time of the incident when it suddenly spotted a cat as they walked along the High Street in Kemnay.
The dog attempted to go for the feline and in the struggle the 35-year-old accidentally let go of the animal.
The dog was able to grab the cat in its mouth and shake it around before witnesses managed to separate them.
Fiscal depute Andrew McMann told Aberdeen Sheriff Court the incident happened around 12.15pm on November 12 2018.
Forrest was not banned from keeping dogs
He said: “A cat appeared, resulting in the dog pulling hard on the lead that the accused was holding.
“Due to the dog overpowering the accused, he released the lead, although that was accidental.
“The dog attacked the cat by grabbing it by the body with its mouth and shaking it about.”
The cat was assessed by a vet and found to have superficial wounds and be in shock.
Forrest, of Meadowbank, Oldmeldrum, admitted causing the cat unnecessary suffering by releasing the dog he was in charge of to attack the animal.
‘I would have taken a different view if the dog had been set on the cat’
Defence agent David Sutherland said his client had been looking after the dog – who wasn’t named – for a couple of weeks when it saw the cat and “reacted to it”.
He said Forrest ought to have done more to stop the incident.
Sheriff Andrew Miller ordered Forrest to complete 110 hours of unpaid work and be supervised for a year.
He opted not to disqualify Forrest from keeping animals for various reasons, including the dog not being his and the fact nothing similar had happened previously or since.
The sheriff added: “I would have taken a different view if the dog had been set on or deliberately released so it could attack the cat.”
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