A Tory MP has been fined after his puppy caused a stampede by chasing after a 200-strong herd of deer in London’s Richmond Park.
Danny Kruger admitted losing control of his 11-month-old Jack Russell, named Pebble, during a walk with his family in March.
MP for Devizes – who was Boris Johnson’s political secretary before he was elected to the Commons in 2019 – pleaded guilty to causing or permitting an animal to chase or worry another animal in a royal park.
Deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram fined Kruger £120 and told him he must pay £575 costs and a £34 surcharge – totalling £719. “You should have known better,” the judge told the MP.
Judge Ikram added: “Your dog was not under control, he was able to frighten the deer and here you are in court today. The deer were clearly startled and frightened. It could have caused injury, fortunately it didn’t.”
Prosecutor Dominic Hockley told the court: “It’s been said it only takes one pebble to start an avalanche. In this case it only took one Pebble to start a stampede.”
The court heard that Kruger had been on a long walk with his wife and three children on March 20, when police officer Samantha Riggs spotted his dog running across the road towards a herd of around 200 fallow deer.
Mr Hockley said the deer, many of which were pregnant, were left in a “panicked state”. The officer said she called out for the owner – who was “at that point nowhere to be seen” – to bring the dog under control.
Volunteer ranger Duncan MacCallum said he also asked Mr Kruger to call his puppy back, “which seemed to spur him into action”, the court heard.
In footage filmed by a member of the public, Donald Milton, and the police officer’s body-worn camera, Mr Kruger can be heard repeatedly shouting “Pebble!” before putting his dog on a lead.
The MP was said to have been “contrite and apologetic” following the incident, which lasted around 45 seconds, telling police: “I’m sorry, I had no idea, I didn’t see the deer. Anyway, obviously he needs to be on a lead.”
Red deer in Richmond Park, London
Jae Carwardine, defending the MP, said his “attention was momentarily drawn away” because his youngest son, aged seven, was tired after walking for around two hours.
“This was a brief lapse while juggling his responsibilities as a parent, quite understandable, but something Mr Kruger deeply regrets,” she said. “Of course, he will take much greater care in the future.”
Richmond Park’s manager Simon Richards said in a statement to the court there were 36 incidents of dogs chasing deer over a four-month period last year, while around six deer a year are killed by dogs.
“Dogs chasing deer cause great distress and it often leads to physical attacks on the deer,” he said.
