Northern Territory's Director of Public Prosecutions has dropped most of the charges relating the alleged shooting of about 30 horses at an outback cattle station several years ago.
The mass horse shooting allegedly occurred at Killarney Station, 280 kilometres south west of Katherine, on September 19, 2020.
In the long-running case, two men were charged by police with various animal cruelty offences.
Jumbuck Pastoral, owners of Killarney, had claimed the professional shooters had been allowed onto the 541,400ha property to shoot feral animals.
At the time, Jumbuck Pastoral director Callum McLachlan said staff had been devastated to find horses used by station workers and kept close to the homestead had also been shot.
The two men had contested the charges in appearances before Katherine Local Court.
A further court hearing on Monday heard police prosecutors had decided to drop charges against one of the men, and withdrawn all but two charges relating to a single horse against the second man.
That hearing has been moved to Darwin for July 13.
Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
