Michael Heseltine labelled ‘dangerous and delusional’ by animal rights group after claiming he choked his mother’s pet Alsatian to death after it bit him

FORMER Deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine has made the extraordinary claim that he strangled his mother’s pet Alsatian after it bit him.

The veteran Tory was labelled “dangerous and delusional, not to mention out of touch, intolerant, ignorant, and appallingly callous” by an animal rights group.

He claimed he was “devoted” to the animal, but killed the dog by pulling on it’s choker chain until it “went limp”.

The shocking revelation is sure to anger animal lovers – just days after he admitted to killing hundreds of squirrels on his estate.

In an interview with Tatler magazine, the 83-year-old – whose nickname in politics is Tarzan, explained the grizzly details of the incident.

Michael Heseltine told the interviewer: “I went to stroke him and he started biting me.

“If you have a dog that turns, you just cannot risk it. So I took Kim’s collar – a short of choker chain – and pulled it tight.

“Suddenly he went limp. I was devoted to Kim, but he’d obviously had some sort of mental breakdown.”

The RSPCA said they were unable to launch a prosecution due to the age of the offensce, but the ex-Home Secretary is sure to provoke furious reaction over his actions.

While it is not against the law to euthanize your own dog in the UK, it is an offence to cause an animal unnecessary suffering.

But the group PETA say the only seat the peer and former MP should “occupying is one in a psychiatrist’s office or a prison cell”.

It is not the first time in recent days Lord Heseltine has hit the headlines over his killing of animals.

In an interview last week he revealed he and his wife Anne have shot and killed 400 squirrels to protect their 70-acre Northamptonshire estate.

He outraged viewers after saying on Good Morning Britain: said: “They are destroyers – they destroy the trees and the wildlife.

“We culled over 400 squirrels in nine months. If you cull the greys you get reds back.”

A spokesman for the RSPCA said in relation to Kim the dog they “can only investigate and prosecute summary-only offences – like those under the Animal Welfare Act – within three years of that alleged offence being committed”.

The animal charity said: “Therefore, in this instance, we are not able to look any further into this matter.

“The RSPCA would never condone an owner killing their dog themselves in this way.

“If a dog needs to be put to sleep then a qualified vet is the right person to euthanize an animal humanely and painlessly, not the dog’s owner.

“There is no rule that says a dog should automatically be put to sleep if it bites someone.

“If you are concerned about your dog’s behaviour, the RSPCA would advise that you seek expert advice.”

But Elisa Allen, director of animal rights group PETA UK, said: “Lord Heseltine appears to be dangerous and delusional, not to mention out of touch, intolerant, ignorant, and appallingly callous – and proud of it.

“He thinks that he can justify choking a dog to death as a way of dealing with behavioural issues as well as mercilessly killing hundreds of squirrels on land that he’s apparently too greedy to share with wildlife.

“If these claims are true, the only seat he should be occupying is one in a psychiatrist’s office or a prison cell.”

Suggestions Lord Heseltine was involved in the death of the Alsatian have been around for decades, but a rumour which surfaced when he challenged Margaret Thatcher for the Conservative leadership was dismissed as “exaggeration”.