person who would hurt an animal unless he believed

person who would hurt an animal unless he believed it would hurt him or our animals,” she said.

She said that they had strengthened the pigpen after the first attack, but they used weathered lumber that could be broken.

Mr. Nuttle said when he first saw the dog it had broken a hole in the pigpen and had its head and neck through the hole. He said he fired a warning shot but the dog “did not cease. I wasn’t surprised. Once a dog is close to the kill it’s hard to get it to break off.”

Mr. Nuttle said he shot at the dog and it ran off. He said he photographed the hole in the pen and then repaired it and went inside.

He said his wife told him the dog was still around. He went outside again and tracked the dog. He said he was experienced at tracking and had tracked and hunted man-eating tigers and leopards in Vietnam.

Mr. Nuttle said he tried to frighten the dog off and fired another warning shot, but it didn’t leave. Then he said he walked along the fence and the dog “made an attack run at high speed directly at me. I had no choice but to shoot and kill the dog.”

Mr. Luke asked Mr. Nuttle why he hadn’t told this to the Swindlers. “They were upset and angry,” he said. “Mr. Swindler asked me three questions. I would have been glad to go over the details and say I was sorry, but they did not allow me that opportunity.”

During final arguments Mr. Nuttle said that under Virginia law a man is allowed to shoot a dog if it is attacking his livestock, even if the dog does not bite the livestock. He said that since November there had been three separate attacks on livestock.

“Dogs are a menace in Rappahannock County,” he said. “The county does not have a leash law or a fund to recompense livestock owners. I understand how dog owners feel. When their dogs to out at night, they don’t know what the dogs do. They can’t accept that a loving, kind obedient dog would go out at night to kill.

“Occasionally dogs will revert and kill for fun. The act of chaining