A farmer who allegedly mutilated and partially killed six young deer with a mowing machine will have to answer to the Linz Regional Court on October 11. He is accused of cruelty to animals and serious interference with another person's hunting and fishing rights. The farmer and FPÖ local politician from the Urfahr-Umgebung district is said to have mowed a meadow he leased in June, despite being warned by local hunters that fawns may be lying hidden in the tall grass.

Drone search rejected
The hunters had offered to search the meadow with drones free of charge when he had already started mowing. The 57-year-old refused and continued his work. According to the indictment, he deliberately killed four fawns and brutally abused two of them by mowing off all four legs. He did not "care" whether there were deer in them and was not interested in whether there were deer, he replied to the hunters' request.

Up to three years in prison
On June 9 and 10, the hunters found the remains of two dead fawns between two and three weeks old in the mown meadow. Two others were so badly injured that they had to be shot on the spot. The following day, two more dead fawns were discovered in a compost heap nearby. The accused faces a prison sentence of up to three years.

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