CLA South East is urging dog owners to understand their responsibilities and the law to help prevent livestock being badly injured and killed during the lambing season.
Lambing season is a busy time of year for farmers, and livestock worrying can have serious effects on animals including stress, injury and abortion. Sheep do not cope well with stressful situations and can even die from shock days after the event.
So CLA South East, which represents thousands of farmers, landowners and rural businesses in Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight, is offering advice to dog owners to help avoid problems this season.
It comes after a recent incident left nearly 30 pregnant ewes dead after a dog attack in a field in Sittingbourne, Kent, which police described as “possibly the worst livestock attack we have ever had”.
Tim Bamford, CLA Regional Director, says:
“We would advise owners to keep their dogs on leads when walking through fields of livestock, particularly sheep at this time of year, and to always stick to public rights of ways.
“If you live near land with livestock in it, ensure that you know where your dog is at all times, make sure your property is secure and check dogs can’t escape at any time.
“It is the owner’s responsibility to keep their dog under control and we are also raising awareness about the potential consequences of not doing so. Livestock worrying is a criminal offence and a fine of £1,000 can be handed out.
Article continues below this advertisement “It is also important that every instance of livestock worrying is reported to the police. This will allow for a more accurate picture of the scale of the problem to be built up, and assist the police and Government to determine what resources and powers are required in order to effectively tackle the problem.”
Where a dog is in the act of worrying livestock and there is, or is likely to be serious damage to those livestock, call police on 999. Alternatively, dial 101 to report an incident where the dogs are no longer present after an attack or to report problem dog behaviour. Photographs and videos of the worrying incident and/or the damage it caused can be extremely useful.
Please watch “silent killers” by Richard D Hall it’s on YouTube! These aren’t dogs killing livestock. Watch the documentary and learn what’s really going on!
Shoot the dogs
They ought to be allowed to shoot them. Then they could rehome the dog to someone responsible.
They will ignore any and all advice. Mark my words it will be business as for the self entitled and arrogant ‘shitting machine’ owners.
I own dogs, always have. I would never walk through the countryside where there are animals in a field, which is their home, and my dogs were not on a lead and under control.
It’s such a shame there are many brainless dip shits who let their dogs off lead and don’t think twice about it! Be aware all you brainless dip shits, the farmer is perfectly within the rights of the law to shoot the dog/dogs who are worrying/chasing his/her livestock.
The brainless dip xxxx as you call rightly call them aren’t THAT brainless.
For they know that IF any farmer did shoot any dog, unless proven to have tore several sheep to pieces, they owner would say he threatened them with a loaded gun, the Police would take the licence away, the dog owning fraternity would likely burn them out of house and farm buildings and make their life misery.
This is not 1930 and sadly the scum rule and they know it and use it to the max
See it how it is now, NOT how it should be or how you ‘want’ it to be.
Big difference, sadly.