Man jailed after ‘worst example' of animal fighting Scottish SPCA has ever seen

A man has been jailed and banned from owning animals ‘indefinitely’ after the ‘worst example' of animal fighting a cruelty investigator has ever seen

Jailed for animal cruelty: Callum Muir

Callum Muir, 25, of Logan, Ayrshire, used his three dogs, terrier Pip, lurcher Bella and bull lurcher Mig to maul badgers and foxes.

After receiving intelligence that he was involved in this behaviour, Scottish SPCA Inspectors executed a warrant on his house, where they found evidence that Muir was self treating his dogs, who were badly injured.

They also found video evidence of the fights, which show Muir laughing while watching his dogs rip apart a fox.

An undercover cruelty investigator said: “The evidence we found at Muir’s home address was consistent with what you’d typically find when someone is heavily involved in animal fighting.

"All three of his dogs had significant injuries across their faces. Pip and Bella, the two older dogs, had injuries across their neck and legs.

"Both dogs had several missing teeth as a result of the fights they’d been in, and the lack of appropriate veterinary treatment would have made the suffering even worse.”

“Mig had some scarring to her muzzle and legs but as she was a much larger, stronger and younger dog it’s likely she’d been able to avoid serious injury up to this point.”

Scotland crime news: Man jailed after ‘worst example' of animal fighting Scottish SPCA has ever seen

During the search of the property, several items associated with animal fighting were found, including locator collars which are used to track dogs when they are underground in badger setts.

Officers also discovered nets for catching wild animals when they bolt from their den.

This evidence was analysed at Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture and fox and badger DNA was found.

Muir was sentenced to six months in prison at Ayr Sheriff Court on May 24, and has been banned from owning animals indefinitely.

The inspector added: “In my line of work you see a lot of stomach churning examples of animal cruelty, but the videos and images relating to this case are among the worst I’ve ever seen.”

“The complete disregard for the wellbeing of the dogs and wild animals in the videos is appalling. In many of them, Muir can be heard encouraging his dogs to attack wild animals as they scream in pain. In one clip, he laughs as a fox’s skin is torn away and they are ripped in half by dogs. In another, two of his dogs attack a fox whilst a man stamps on its head as Muir laughs.

“New legislation has now come into effect which means offenders can receive up to five year sentences for animal welfare crimes. We’ve been involved in thousands of criminal cases and this ranks up there as one of the worst.”