A FARMER is appealing to owners in The Herald area to keep their dogs on leads after an escalating number of attacks which have left several sheep dead or mutilated and a gaping hole in his pocket. For Gordon Wyeth sheep worrying has become a living nightmare. Based at Maple Farm in Ropley, Mr Wyeth is a commercial sheep farmer of 25 years experience whose livelihood hinges largely on the success of the lambing season. When dogs chase sheep not only will they kill the animals they are chasing, but they terrify the whole flock, leading to injury and, at this time of year when the ewes are about to give birth, to an untold number of aborted lambs. According to Mr Wyeth, the hidden cost is often hard to quantify. While an individual sheep can fetch upward of £100 when in lamb, a sheep worrying incident can jeopardise the successful lambing of an entire flock, with lambs aborted or still born, reabsorbed into the system, or single rather than multiple births. "One sheep worrying incident can result in a loss of thousands of pounds," said Mr Wyeth who has been faced with the distressing aftermath of dog attacks on his flocks on countless occasions during the past year. He told The Herald: "We run 6,500 ewes ourselves and we have nearly 10,000 sheep in different places around Hampshire and near Farnham, across the border in Surrey. A lot of the land is crossed by footpaths where people walk their dogs and very few keep them on a lead." Last week alone Mr Wyeth had to deal with three incidents. Early on Sunday morning (January 13) a black and white dog was seen chasing a flock of 40 ewes on land at Headley Wood Farm near Kingsley. They had been rounded up into a corner and one sheep had been bowled over the fence with its ears ripped off. On Monday (January 14) Mr Wyeth spotted a dog chasing sheep at a farm in Chineham. He reprimanded the dog's owner who appeared not to recognise that his pet was committing an offence. And at around 8 am on Friday morning (January 18) a sheep was found hobbling up the road in Ropley with both its ears missing after a run in with a dog. On Boxing Day Mr Wyeth had two sheep killed in a dog attack on land over at Blacklands Farm near Basingstoke. And on another occasion last year, dogs chased some of his sheep into a river at Kingsley. But the worst attack was at Four Marks last April when an ewe, in lamb with twins, had her throat ripped out. "The suffering of this sheep was terrible – she was still breathing when she was found, but we had to have her humanely destroyed and we lost the lambs as well," said Mr Wyeth who warns owners that he does carry a gun and if he sees dogs worrying sheep on his land he is entitled by law to shoot them. According to Richard Buer, Alton and Petersfield NFU group secretary and NFU Mutual agent, livestock worrying is distressing to farmers and costs the industry around £2m per year. He points out that if a dog worries livestock, the dog owner or the person responsible for the animal at the time is guilty of an offence under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 and may be sued for compensation by the farmer. Furthermore, the farmer is perfectly entitled to shoot the dog. "Owners forget that the friendly family pet can turn wolf. But they should remember that the law allows farmers to shoot dogs that are threatening livestock. "People find it hard to believe that their pet can be a hazard to livestock. But whatever their temperament, dogs have a chase instinct that can be triggered by the sight or movement of farm animals. That's why it is so important to keep dogs on leads near livestock and under control at all times." said Mr Buer. Due to escalating cases of sheep worrying, the NFU (National Farmers Union) has launched a poster campaign to raise awareness of the problem. Farmers can obtain free, durable signs to erect near footpaths which read: "Even your dog can scare or harm farm animals. Please put it on a lead near livestock." To obtain these signs or for more information call the NFU on 01730 711950.
