Vet’s dog attacked a flock of sheep

A VET whose dog attacked a flock of sheep and who subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts under the Control of Dogs Act was spared a criminal conviction and had the matter struck out when she paid a donation to the court poor box last week in Carlow District Court.

Sarah Jane King, Ballynure Demesne, Grangecon, Co Wicklow pleaded guilty to two counts of having an uncontrolled dog arising from an incident that occurred at Knocknamuck Lower, Grangecon on 24 January 2024.

Sergeant Hud Kelly told the court that Ms King’s dog and her mother’s dog were shot by a farmer after he caught them attacking his sheep on that date. Sergeant Kelly continued that three ewes had to be euthanised while others needed medical attention after the attack.

Solicitor Michael Lannigan told Judge Geraldine Carthy that Ms King was a 30-year-old vet who “cared for animals at her core”. He said that Ms King left her mother in charge of her dog on that day because she needed to go to Dublin, but that when she returned at 5pm she noticed immediately that her dog and her mother’s dog had gone missing.

The court heard that Ms King’s mother had inadvertently left a door into their house open as she was bringing in the shopping and that the two dogs had got out.

Mr Lanigan continued that when Ms King noticed the dogs missing she had spent several hours looking for them before going to the garda station in Dunlavin the following day to report them missing, only to be informed by the gardaí that they had been shot. The court heard that Ms King and her father subsequently contacted the farmer who owned the sheep and that compensation had been paid over.

Mr Lanigan said that Ms King had trained to be a vet in Budapest and that, while she was there, she volunteered in a charity for stray dogs where she subsequently adopted her own dog and brought it back to Ireland with her. Mr Lanigan told Judge Geraldine Carthy that Ms King wanted to open her own practice as a vet and that a criminal conviction would have a “disproportionate effect” on her career.

Judge Carthy noted Ms King’s early guilty plea, that there were no previous convictions and that there was a “unique set of circumstances” that led the dogs to be out of control.

She ordered Ms King to pay a €1,000 donation to the court poor box and, after she did so, Judge Carthy struck the matter out.