I often see a lady on my walks who has a Mal/Sib cross. He is a lovely dog with no aggression problems, runs and plays with all the dogs we meet, he also has a good recall...but she was walking him along the river with another "dog walker " (This lady walks dogs for other people..for free by all accounts or for dog food for her 2 dogs. I have had occasion to avoid her at times as she will walk up to 12 dogs at a time !! nearly all small dogs ) Anyway its a pretty wild area it is loosely part of the country park but is not maintained and is a bit unclaimed as it is really just part of the old railway line and no one farm/maintains the area. Its kind of common ground.
We do see the odd deer there but they soon hop off but this day one popped up under the dogs nose, he chased it and he is fast, he caught it, pulled it down and before the owner could get to him killed it. She was devastated and in tears, got him on the lead and walked back to the other lady who was ranting and verbally laid into the owner. She has threatened all sorts of things from police to RSPCA and has frightened the owner so much she is walking him on lead and muzzled as she is frightened someone will take him away from her and PTS. I have not seen her for a couple of weeks and today was the first time since this happened. I asked her why he was muzzled and leashed and this is the story she told me. Now in my mind no offence has been committed. Yes she will have to be ultra careful in the future but as to never letting him of lead again and muzzling him I think she should ignore it. Dogs are dogs and she did not encourage him to kill. She tried to stop him but we all know its impossible in that situation. My dogs will chase deer, they are far to slow to catch them and soon give up (200 yrd at most) but they do kill the odd bunny or squirrel and I would class this under that same heading. The fact that is was a deer has made it a little worse but its just a dog being a dog. He is normally such a happy dog and his recall is good at all times. No matter how well a dog behaves sometimes mother nature gets the better of them. Nothing we can do will stop that. There is no reason to think that he will now become a committed deer killer unless a similar episode occurred. Should she never let him off lead again ?

Firstly I would suggest she speaks to Trevor cooper of dog law. It will give her legal rights on this and may allay her fears about any legal aspect. As for letting him off the lead or muzzling , how about if she muzzled but let him off so that if there is the slightest chance of a repeat I doubt he could hurt the deer.
It will be interesting to learn what others say
u

My feeling on this is that wild life sometimes has to take it's chance. Our country is in some areas over run with deer, the odd one being lost to dogs is hardly the end of the world! The dog made a quick kill by the sound of it, certainly wouldn't like a deer to suffer. Dogs will be dogs and I do think protecting wildlife can be taken to ridiculous extremes.

Some years ago when I lived in Essex, I used to walk in a large country park- I used to meet up with a number of regular dog walkers- one lady had a lovely springer. The day came when I met her and this lovely dog was wearing a muzzle, on asking her why, she said he had killed a rabbit and some people had seen and been so abusive to her that she couldn't risk it again!   Crazy! My dogs certainly wouldn't be muzzled for rabbit killing! I have never had  a dog catch a deer but my old golden boy would have  an occasional foray into the woods if he saw one. Sorry if my view offends anyone but that is my opinion.

I'm not sure what crime she could be done under, as I understand it, the law regarding hunting with dogs, doesn't apply unless the animal was being deliberately hunted, which obviously wasn't the case.

The DDA seems only to apply if the animal is owned
[url=].https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public   [/url]

Poor lady, it can easily happen, a deer popped up right under Daisy's nose just a few days ago and got caught between her and the fence, thankfully it was a big hind and Daisy thought better of it, but normally she never bothers about deer, this one was just to close to ignore.

As has been mentioned, a call to Trevor Cooper would be advisable.

I was on a John Rogerson weekend back in November and he said it was illegal for a dog to be muzzled and off the lead at the same time.

really ? well that is interesting

Wonder why ?, I've seen lots of dogs off lead and muzzled because they eat rubbish .

yes celli. Very odd unknown law

I imagine Trevor Cooper would be able to confirm that (or perhaps google it to find out?).

This lady hasn't done anything wrong, and neither has the dog.  We all know that animals have instincts that some folk don't like.  I don't like seeing dead birds, and I'm glad that I have so many dogs that cats don't hunt in my garden.  This is no different in my opinion.

> I imagine Trevor Cooper would be able to confirm that (or perhaps google it to find out?).

Trevor Cooper is giving a lecture down here in Somerset next week (22nd). If I go, I'll ask.