A hunter who shot a teacher’s beloved pet dog dead with a hunting rifle after baiting a meadow with pet food has been ordered by judges to pay a EUR 8,100 (GBP 6,940) compensation.

Callous Andreas R. blasted the dog with a powerful hunting rifle while its owner, Christine W., was taking it for a late-night walk in Anger, Bavaria, Germany, in February last year (2023).

And when the horrified 47-year-old owner called an emergency vet to help her felled dog Agape, he told her. “Don’t bother. It’s dead.”

The hunter later told judges at Laufen District Court he had mistaken the distinctive-looking black and white Appenzeller Sennenhund for a fox.

Expert witness vet Marcel Suchow­ski however said the claim was unlikely at the hearing on 27th February.

He said: “The dog is twice as big as a fox, its ears are hanging while the ears of a fox are erect. The shape of their tails and their fur colours are significantly different too.”

But Andreas R., who hid under a face mask, baseball cap and hoodie as he appeared before judges, insisted. “For me, it looked like a fox.”

He told the court he had given up hunting and sold his gun after receiving anonymous death threats over the shooting.

The hunter also criticised Agape’s owner for letting her dogs roam unleashed. Saying she should have fitted them with LED collars.

During the trial, it revealed that the accused had placed fruit and dog food in the area to attract foxes so he could shoot them.

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An autopsy on Agape’s body showed that the bullet entered its body near the left ear and crushed its skull.

Andreas R. claimed: “I would have not pulled the trigger had I realised it was a dog.

“Does anyone really think I enjoy going through this procedure?”

But Judge Josef Haiker dismissed his evidence.

He said: “You felt the peer pressure and wanted to ensure not being the only hunter who had not killed a fox.

“But things did not go your way. You hit a dog.”

In addition to the EUR 8,100 (GBP 6,940) penalty, the defendant was informed that the EUR 450 (GBP 385) he made by selling his gun would be seized.

Devastated Christine told judges: “He killed the pearl of my pack, the dearest.”

Hunters in Germany are allowed to shoot foxes, pheasants and hares to control diseases and protect livestock from diseases that they might carry and spread as well as to keep the numbers manageable.