Police dogs brought in to sniff out deer hunter (From This is Hampshire)

Police dogs brought in to sniff out deer hunter

4:36pm Monday 8th March 2010 in

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POLICE tracker dogs have been drafted in to hunt down a mystery gunman shooting deer on a Wiltshire estate.

Specialist officers from Wiltshire police’s dog section are now patrolling the Hamptworth Estate at Landford 24-hours a day in a bid to catch the gunman who has killed at least 25 deer since mid-December.

Some deer have been found suffering from gunshot wounds have had to be put down.

Bob Pocock Wiltshire police’s senior dog instructor said: “This is an excellent example of how police can work with the local community to combat rural crime. We hope that the presence of police dogs and their handlers both day and night will discourage the offenders from returning.”

The manager of the 3,000-acre estate, Guy Anderson, who feared a member of a public might become a victim of the marksman has now given the police permission to use some land to train their dogs.

“This initiative is also a great benefit for the dog section as the Hamptworth Estate will provide us with large, open spaces on which to train our dogs. We are very grateful for this opportunity and will be using it train general-purpose dogs in tracking and searching skills and in chasing people on the run,” added Mr Pocock.

And PC Fritz Macaulay who is investigating the shootings said: “We take all reports of animal cruelty and rural crime very seriously and have a dedicated rural crime team tasked to deal with incidents such as this. These shooting are particularly nasty, deer are randomly being shot at and then left for dead.”

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to contact the officer on 0845-408-7000 and if someone sees the gunman in action call 999 immediately.