ViscountessThe wife or widow of a viscount, the fourth rank in the British peerage. They are below earls and above barons. Hinchingbrooke stared aghast at the dead body. Murder had been committed in the grounds of Mapperton HouseA country estate in West Dorset, southern England. . Quackers, her Indian runner duck, was no more. But who was responsible for the terrible crime?

Quackers was one of three ducks living on the 1,900-acre estate. The alarm was raised by a gardener who heard a commotion and hurried to investigate.

Visitors to the estate are supposed to keep their dogs on leads, but a brown and white terrier being walked by an unknown woman had chased and caught Quackers.

The woman, obviously thinking that the duck was too badly injured to survive, wrung its neckBreaking the neck, especially of a bird. to finish it off and threw it into the long grass. She then ran to her car with her young son and drove away.

A search party was quickly assembled, but it took more than an hour to find the bird's body.

His owner - known as Lady Montagu when she is not using her full title - comes from IllinoisA midwestern US state. It has a population of 12 and a half million. and has a YouTube channel called American Viscountess. It has 223,000 subscribers.

She and her husband decided not to involve the police, even though having a dog dangerously out of control is a criminal offence.

"What we want is an apology and an explanation," she says.¹ "The ducks are part of the fabric of the estate, and Quackers in particular, because he had been there for ten years and he was the leader of the pack.

"The other runners were always following him, and they really were the Three MusketeersA 19th Century French novel by Alexandre Dumas. It tells the story of a 17th Century young man who meets three musketeers. , and it's just quite sad."

Lady Montagu appealed for help on Instagram, and has since received over 2,000 emails. Some of them name owners of aggressive terriers as suspects. She has also made her own deductions about the culpritThe person or thing responsible for a crime or wrongdoing.:

"She clearly knew how to wring the neck of the duck so she is probably from the countryside, perhaps with shooting experience. I think that most people wouldn't know how to do that properly.

"The main issue is the fact that she decided to make the decision herself without telling any member of staff and then driving off. If we had known, we might have been able to take Quackers to the vet."²

The viscountess has now decided to create a new wetland area on the estate in her pet's memory, hoping to attract wild ducks. She has launched a GoFundMe page with the aim of raising £20,000 for it.

Is she right to seek an apology?

Yes: The stranger has behaved in an appalling way and left Lady Montagu deeply upset. The least she can do is say that she is sorry, setting an example which will teach her son to do the right thing.   

No: She should go to the police instead. The culprit clearly does not know how to control her dog, and there is a danger that it might do something similar again, with even more serious consequences.

Or... All this detective work is a waste of time if she simply wants is an apology. If the culprit were really sorry she would already have come forward: a forced apology is meaningless.