Who is responsible for maintaining public footpaths?  Is it legal to have an electric fence surrounding a field which a public footpath crosses through?  Could an electric fence be harmful to an animal if the animal was in contact/gettiing shocks for a length of time? (the type of voltage used to fence horses).

Thanks in advance :)

This might help a bit. Regarding the electric fence, if an electric fence crosses a right of way, and there's no safe means of crossing it, then that's an offence. If the right of way is beside the fence and you don't need to cross it, then that's perfectly legal.

Um yes I can say from experience that they hurt!