The cost of dog attacks on farm animals has doubled since 2019 in the UK. It’s been put down to the sharp rise in dog ownership during and since Covid-19. Sadly, a lot of these new dog owners have on occasions acted irresponsibly and they appear to be unaware of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which places an obligation on dog owners walking with their dog to keep their companion animal on a lead at all times which is no more than 2 metres long when in the company of livestock on publicly accessible land.
It’s when dogs are not on a lead and they run free and attack livestock that problems occur. Livestock worth an estimated £2.4 million were severely injured or killed by dogs in 2023. In 2022, the figure was £1.8 million.
A spokesperson for the NFU Mutual, Hannah Binns, said:
“If there is an attack, it’s important people accept responsibility and report it to a local farmer and the police, so that the injured animals are not left suffering in pain. We’ve heard reports from farmers about dog owners who regularly allow their pets to roam off-lead in the countryside seemingly unaware of the carnage the dog could cause who are then horrified when an attack happens. Complacency kills. Dogs have chased, injured and killed sheep and the owner is powerless to stop it or nowhere to be seen.”
That sums up the problem nicely and in summary you have to conclude that this minority of dog owners are irresponsible.
Turning to Wales and Scotland, attacks by dogs and livestock in those countries have more than doubled last year costing £883,000 and £123,000 respectively.
In England, the worst area is the South West with attacks rising by 31% over a year costing farmers £359,000.
In one instance, farmer Alun James’ suffered the loss of 80 of his sheep when they were killed last spring in two frenzied attacks at his farm in Carmarthenshire. In the first attack he lost 36 sheep with the survivors being very badly injured which required that they be put down.
Other sheep were driven into a river where they drowned. In a subsequent attack six weeks later, an additional 50 sheep were killed or swept away in the river.
He said that “The attacks were horrific and left us shaken to the core. My mother saw the dog attacking our sheep and breaking their necks by tossing them into the air.”
He believes that the dogs were of the husky-type breed, although it has not been proved. The dog was rehomed subsequently.
In another incident, Nicola Robinson, found that 28 newborn lambs had died in a stream. She said that “They were trying to get away from a dog and jumped the dyke.” The loss cost her business £45,000 in revenue.
A survey by NFU Mutual of 1,100 dog owners found that almost 8% admitted that their dog chased livestock. 46% believed that their dogs were not capable of harming the livestock.
New legislation is being debated in Parliament, it is the Dogs (Detection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill. If passed it would provide police with greater powers to seize dogs suspected of worrying livestock in England and Wales.
My thanks to The Times newspaper for the story.
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