JOHN DYSART – ALLOA, CLACKMANNAN

John Dysart, of Alloa trained dogs for fights and filmed them killing pet cats and badgers

Dysart, whose disturbing’urban hunting’ hobby can be traced back as far as 2012, was finally caught after he videoed two of his dogs mauling a cat to death in the street.

When the video went viral in the local area in September 2023, the Scottish SPCA (SSPCA) was inundated with calls about it. In March 2024 the animal charity then received information that Dysart and an associate were going out with three dogs to kill badgers and cats, and filming the fights on their phones

An SSPCA Special Investigations inspector said: “During March 2024, we received information that Dysart had acquired a black bull lurcher and was regularly going out in the late evening and early mornings with two lurcher types for the purposes of killing badgers, foxes and cats, and filming these fights on his mobile phone.

“We also received numerous phone calls to our helpline regarding Dysart posting videos of his dogs deliberately killing a domestic cat in a street in the Alloa area. An anonymous person sent one such video to the SSPCA Helpline.
“The video shows a cat being attacked by a black lurcher-type dog and a grey lurcher-type dog. The attack occurred on a pavement in a residential street during darkness.

“The attack is illuminated by the light from the mobile phone device recording the fight.

“A black lurcher-type dog with a purple collar can be seen biting the cat’s back near its rear legs, while simultaneously, a grey lurcher-type dog with a black collar can be seen biting the cat by its throat.

“The cat can be heard whining and groaning as the two dogs maul it to death from either side.”

A fellow urban hunter was so horrified by the footage that he became a witness against Dysart.

He wrote in a text message: “Letting your fucking dogs maul cats. That’s some wean’s pet. Fucking sick in the head, that so OT, it’s lowest of the fcking low, you’ll end up getting those dogs put down.
“Cunts like you shouldn’t have pets, you sick wee evil bastard getting a buzz out of stuff like that.”

Dysart called his associate a “grass”, and claimed he wasn’t looking for cats, but that once the attack started it wasn’t safe to intervene. He said that his only mistake was to film the ordeal.
The abuser warned his contact: “You watch your status. You may as well be phoning the police up yourself and giving a statement.”
But he responded by telling Dysart he had “clearly been sending videos to people you thought was funny”.

Police and SSPCA officers raided the homes of Dysart and his associate, who was not charged.

A black female lurcher was found in an upstairs bedroom together with a collar covered in badger DNA.
Illegal veterinary medicine and syringes used to treat dogs hurt in animal fights were found in Dysart’s fridge.

Prosecutor Karen Rollo said the drug was used by individuals involved in animal fighting, but “commonly” did not take their dogs to vets for treatment as dog-fighting injuries were “easily identified”.
A mobile phone was found showing five videos of cats and badgers being attacked by dogs.

Items used for hunting wild animals were recovered, including high-powered lamps, used at night to reveal live quarry and stun it, a fork, a spade, snares, and camouflage clothing.
A grey lurcher was found at the home of Dysart’s associate, the third canine in the set of videos, together with the black lurcher and a fawn lurcher of Dysart’s, who is said to have died.
Videos were presented to the court, one showing a fawn dog chewing on a dying badger.

Dysart messaged a friend about the incident, bragging that the dog was “smashing pigs for fun”, pigs being animal fighters’ slang for badgers.
Another showed two dogs playing tug-of-war with a dying badger.

Dysart admitted keeping or training three lurchers for animal fights, causing unnecessary suffering by setting his dogs on cats, allowing them to bite, pull, attack them, and kill them, making videos of the crimes and sharing them online, setting dogs on a badger, killing or injuring the wild animal, and owning equipment designed or adapted for use at an animal fights.
The offences were committed between February 2022 and March 2024.

Jailing Dysaart for 10 months, Sheriff Neil Bowie told him: “You kept and trained three dogs, causing injury to and ultimately killing domestic cats.

“You also set dogs on badgers, causing them to be attacked, severely injured and most likely killed.
“This was very significant cruelty towards defenceless and protected animals, apparently for your senseless gratification.

“This was both deliberate and planned. You had equipment designed and adapted for use at animal fights.
“This was further aggravated by you publishing video recordings of theoffending, some of it in itself caused further distress to those who viewed it.
“Due to the gravity of your offending, the only appropriate sentence is one of imprisonment.”
The SSPCA welcomed Dysart’s conviction, adding that all animals involved have since been adopted and are now living in safe, caring environments.

Its CEO, Mark Bishop said “This was a particularly harrowing case, and our team did an outstanding job building a strong case to secure a conviction and protect Scotland’s animals.

“The presence of STV filming in court today, which is unheard of for animal abuse cases, shows the severity of this crime and the strength of public concern. Animal abuse has no place in our society and only together, with people across Scotland, can we stop it.”

Jailed for 10 months. Banned from keeping animals for life.