A FATALLY injured much-loved family dog was shot dead within sight of its owner by a farmer as an act of mercy, Skipton magistrates heard.

The four-year-old Doberman, called Cedar, had earlier been seen by farmer Keith Marshall "tossing a lamb like a toy" in a field off Ings Lane, close to Waltonwrays Cemetery.

Marshall, 59, had shot it once with his 12 bore shotgun and then again from his Toyota 4x4, killing it instantly.

Marshall, of Broughton Road, was cleared of causing unnecessary harm to the dog by magistrates who said he had acted humanely and reasonably and had prevented rather than caused further suffering.

During the two-day trial the court heard how Cedar meant everything to its owners, Mathew and Lucy Hill.

The dog regularly went to work with Mr Hill, a manager at R&B Electricals, Carleton Road, where it would play in the compound with two other dogs.

At around 5pm on April 7, it had gone missing and was seen running back towards its shouting owner and three work colleagues. It was around 100 metres away when Marshall shot it for the second time.

Mr Hill said he had been in shock and completely devastated.

He described seeing Marshall herd or 'course' Cedar who was running 'full pelt' across the field.

"Cedar was our life. We fitted everything around him, he was part of our family and this has absolutely destroyed us," he said.

Marshall, a full-time farmer for 24 years, described how he had fetched his AYA shotgun and cartridges from his gun cabinet after being told there was a dog chasing his sheep.

He said it was his understanding that he was within his rights to shoot a dog if it was worrying livestock and there was no other alternative because he had checked it with the police about ten years ago when he had had trouble with a dog.

He also knew he had to inform the police within 24 hours of what he had done.

He said he had come across 50 sheep and 100 lambs huddled together and distressed. He had seen the dog dragging a lamb and throwing it, as if it was 'playing with it'.

He shouted and it dropped the lamb, before snarling and showing its teeth before picking up the lamb again.

"I got back in my vehicle, got the gun, put cartridges in it and shot it. It yelped, ran over a low wall into a puddle."

He explained he felt he had 'no alternative' and it was better it had died there rather than on the road, to where it was heading, or to the nearby housing estate.

"It would have carried on throwing the lamb about and may have gone back to the other sheep."

He also described how he had cut the throat of the lamb, which had been unconscious and bleeding, to put it out of its misery.

The magistrates said Marshall was an experienced farmer and shot, that the dog had been a threat to his livestock and had continued to be a possible threat to the public even though it had been 'near extinction'.