Farmers warn that attacks on livestock by dogs are reaching ‘epidemic proportions’, as they focus on a surge in dog attacks going on during the peak lambing season.
An increase in dog ownership during the pandemic, especially among inexperienced dog owners, has increased the cost of dog attacks on livestock by 10% last year to £ 1.3 million, according to research published by NFU Mutual.
Rebecca Davidson, specialist in the field of insurance with the insurer, said: ‘This is a critical time in the farming calendar and there is widespread concern when we enter the peak lambing season, that there will be an increase in new visitors that simply do not know the Countryside Code or how their dog will behave around farm animals. ”
The start of the lambing season is very hampered for farmer Gordon Wyeth due to attacks on his sheep by pets. He estimates that the number of attacks has doubled since the shutdown began. ‘We had a ram that was bitten by the throat and died; we had six lambs [killed], I think it was the next day. And then we had a husky chasing lamb ewes, the next day. “One ewe died after the other,” he said. ‘The problem is reaching epidemic proportions. It’s so much worse than it ever was. ”
The revised Countryside Code, published on April 1, advises visitors to “keep their dogs under control and visible” – guidelines that farmers fear do not go far enough to educate dog owners.
It is a criminal offense for a dog to chase or attack livestock, known as ‘worrying’, and owners are liable for a fine of £ 1000, even if the dog does not appear to have caused any damage.
Davidson said: “Even if a dog does not make physical contact, the distress and exhaustion of the chase can cause sheep to die or miscarry.
These attacks cause unbearable suffering for farm animals, as well as great anxiety for farmers and their families as they deal with the aftermath. ”
Wyeth, who is one of the largest sheep farmers in Britain with 12,000 sheep across the south of England, suffered more than most.
In one attack, in 2016, he lost 116 sheep and lambs, which is arguably the worst attack in the UK and surely his biggest single loss in 35 years of sheep farming.
He said: ‘They were pushed into a gate in a pool and suffocated. We just found a large pile of dead sheep at the gate. We never found the dog for one.
“We were killed. If you have a lot of animals, you get used to death and all the others, but it’s a different feeling – it’s emotional when it’s so messy and the animals suffer. ”
He said signs put up on the farm are regularly removed by dog walkers and it appears police are reluctant to act after attacks.
The leader of the National Police Chief for Rural Crime and Wildlife, Chief Constable Darren Martland, said police forces are stepping up their response to rural crime and urging rural communities to be ‘our eyes and ears’.
But despite the fact that livestock are concerned that it is a crime, Wyeth has been left behind in civil courts and in his own lands to fight dog owners. He said: “You will be amazed at the abuse we get when we harass someone because they do not have their dogs on their clues.”
Wyeth says he is a dog lover and owns 10 dogs himself. He blames the owners for attacks and adds: “There is no such thing as a bad dog, it’s just bad owners.”
Dr Jenna Kiddie, head of dog behavior at the Dogs Trust, has warned all dog owners to be on their guard around sight, sound, smell or even the expectation of livestock.
She said: “It is important to remember that chasing is part of a dog’s normal behavior, and that any dog is capable of chasing, irrelevant to breed, type, age or size.”
But in addition to the damage their dogs can do, and the risk of them being fined, owners have another reason to worry.
The law protects farmers who shoot dogs that chase livestock, and Wyeth has shot pets in the past. He said: “It makes you feel sick for weeks, it’s awful.”
But he added: ‘We just started paralyzing, so I take my gun with me. I can guarantee you that within the next two or three weeks a dog will attack my sheep and I will shoot it. ‘