Post by DogGoneGood on Dec 29, 2008 20:18:47 GMT -5
Britain's Prince Edward lashes out at dogs
Updated Mon. Dec. 29 2008 2:59 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Britain's Prince Edward is in the doghouse with animal lovers in the country. He's accused of striking out in anger at a pair of dogs and allegedly lashing one with a stick.
Photographs published in newspapers in the U.K. show the rifle-toting prince about to whack one of two Labrador retrievers accompanying him on a pheasant-hunting trip.
"What I saw looked to me as if he hit the dog at least three times. But because it was such a long way away I cannot say he definitely did. He swung at the dog, then swung at it again, chasing it round the field. He was really angry," a witness told the Times Online.
The prince's actions have unleashed outrage from animal rights advocates. Britain's Royal SPCA is looking into the allegations -- which carry fines and even six months of jail time for those convicted of animal abuse.
"It is an offence to cause an animal unnecessary suffering. Hitting a dog is a pathetic, cowardly and vicious act -- it would appear he has had a royal tantrum ... He has set a truly sickening example," Barry Hugill, spokesman for the League Against Cruel Sports, told reporters in Britain.
A Royal Family spokesperson said the prince was just trying to break up a fight between the dogs.
Hugill told CTV Newsnet on Monday afternoon that he's been told that such hunting dogs are "remarkably well trained. The last thing they do is fight."
"You ought to be able to separate the dogs by the tone of voice that you use."
A Buckingham Palace official denied that the prince did anything wrong.
"It has not been determined that he did strike the dog," an unnamed spokesperson told the Telegraph newspaper.
One of the pictures shows the prince holding a stick, which appears to be directly striking the dog's back.
In another newspaper, a Royal family spokesperson said the prince was just trying to break up a fight between the dogs.
Daily Express correspondent Richard Palmer told CTV Newsnet that the latest Royal Family animal controversy is a near-perennial event.
"It's something that happens fairly regularly at this time of year," he said.
The string of royal animal controversies over the years includes:
A criminal conviction and fine Princess Anne received in 2002 after her dog bit and scratched two boys
In 2003, another of Anne's dogs mauled one of the Queen's corgis, which had to be put down
In 2000, critics criticized the Queen after she used her bare hands to kill a pheasant that didn't die immediately after being shot during a royal outing
Palmer added that the prince has reportedly said he can't remember if he actually struck the dog.
"But he insists that neither of the dogs was injured and all he was doing was trying to break up a fight," he said.
Several members of the Royal family, including Princes William, Andrew and Philip were on the hunt at the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Canadian Autumn Phillips, who married into the Royal family this past year, also attended.
source...
Prince 'struck dog' claim inquiry
The RSPCA has said it is looking at claims Prince Edward may have struck a Labrador with a walking stick on the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
The investigation started after complaints following the publication of pictures of the Earl of Wessex holding a stick over a black Labrador.
Buckingham Palace said the prince waved his stick to break up a fight between his two dogs over a dead pheasant.
The RSPCA said it had started a fact-finding exercise, not a full inquiry.
A spokeswoman stressed the complaint would be treated like any other.
She said: "We have received a small number of complaints from members of the public.
"They are concerned by the story they have read in the press and we're dealing with it as we would any other complaint."
She added: "The only evidence we have at the moment are the pictures - it's not clear from the photos what's going on."
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "It has not been determined that he did strike the dog.
"He broke up the fight with the dogs and pictures show him waving his stick around.
"We cannot confirm, however, whether he struck the dog."
source...
It is pretty hard to tell from the photos, what exactly is going on... everyone here knows I'm 100% against animal abuse, but I will say this; when it comes to breaking up dog fights you do what you can. Of course there are certain, ideal methods to break up a dog fight (grab the back legs of the attacker and run backwards is one), but sometimes you gota do what you gota do.
I guess the only people who really know what happened are those who were right there. Judging by the dogs body language it is POSSIBLE the dogs were fighting, but the way he's going at the dog with the stick and judging by the dogs body language it looks like the fight was pretty well broken up (if one did exist) and the dog is now going into "cower" mode.
