Just like a human being, he is for the moment still presumed innocent, but strong suspicions weigh on a dog who was captured this weekend in the Oise.
The animal is the main suspect of a sheep slaughter committed last Thursday in a pasture in Crisolles, in the Noyonnais.
And if the canine apprehended this Saturday serves as the ideal culprit, it is above all because he was caught at the same place of the package, a few days later.
By the breeder of the animals who died earlier in the week, who had made a trap near the pasture to determine which animal had attacked his herd three days earlier.
A survey carried out by the French Biodiversity Office
It is that on the morning of Thursday April 8, it is a macabre scene which awaited this breeder of Sermaize in his pasture of Crisolles.
Seven of his sheep were killed in a nighttime attack, three of them bluntly torn to pieces while several near-adult lambs were also injured.
For this type of facts, we need experts to specify the characteristics of the animal responsible for such carnage.
It was agents from the French Biodiversity Office (OFB) who came to take samples and make observations to draw up a robot portrait of the predator.
The animal entrusted to a veterinarian during the investigation
Very quickly, it was on the trail of a dog that these specialists turned, based on the bite marks noted.
The hypothesis of a stray dog in search of food was then the most plausible but it does not quite correspond to the benefit of the apprehended canine.
"It is not a stray dog but an animal that has an owner," says Captain Thierry Bigot, of the Compiègne gendarmerie company.
It was entrusted to a veterinarian who must carry out a behavioral study, to assess its dangerousness and verify that it is indeed the one who killed the sheep.
"
If this is the case, then its owner would have some concerns for letting his animal wander.
He would also be held responsible for the damage suffered by the breeder, which could amount to several hundred or even thousands of euros, depending on the damage items.