9:11am UK, Tuesday May 20, 2008

A donkey has been sent to prison in southern Mexico for a brutal case of ass-ault and battery.

Donkey went ape

The animal was locked up at a local jail that normally holds people for public drunkenness and other disturbances after it bit and kicked two men near a ranch in the state of Chiapas.

The two victims accuse it of biting one of them in the chest and then kicking the other as he came to the rescue, fracturing his ankle.

Police said it took half a dozen men to control the enraged beast.

Police officer Sinar Gomez said the donkey would remain behind bars until its owner agreed to pay the men's medical bills.

"Around here, if someone commits a crime they are jailed," he said. "No matter who they are."

The owner said he would try to come to an arrangement to pay the men's bills, estimated at around £200.

Chiapas police have thrown animals in the clink before, including a bull that ate corn crops and destroyed two wooden market stalls in March.

In 2006, a dog was locked up for 12 days for biting someone.