An incident in which a dog injured a swan led to the pet’s owner appearing in court.

Peter Davies, aged 77, of Riverside, Ramsey, admitted failing to keep his dog under control after it killed the bird.

He was made the subject of an order to keep his daschund cross lurcher, Charlie, under proper control.

Prosecutor Rachael Braidwood told the court how, on April 27 at 3.35pm, Davies and his wife were walking their three dogs by Ramsey harbour.

They let them off their leads but the lurcher then took off after a pair of swans further down the harbour.

He grabbed one and caused it to suffer a badly broken wing, which resulted in it having to be put down.

Defending himself in court Davies said that he had got Charlie from a rescue centre in Wales and had been told the dog had been used for hunting small animals.

He said he had not realised how strong the dog’s hunting instinct was and now used a muzzle when walking him.

Davies said that the situation with the swan had been exacerbated by onlookers shouting abuse and that Charlie was not an aggressive dog.

He said that the swans were far off in the distance when he had taken the lead off the dog.

Deputy High Bailiff Jayne Hughes said that she had noted the incident happened in April and there had been no reports of any further incidents involving the dog.

But she warned Davies that if the order to keep the dog under control was breached, it could result in the prosecution applying for a destruction order. He was also ordered to pay £50 prosecution costs.