A timely reminder for dog owners..................

[Bugsy]

We've had a really awful day today. Started about 11.00 when we heard plaintive cries coming from our neighbour. We rushed over to find him absolutely distrought and crying. He had just come home to find six of his sheep dead and three more bleeding and clearly in shock.

We were helping him remove the dead ones and getting the others in to the barn when another neighbour came up in an even worse state. She had just lost three sheep, two pigmy goats and all her rabbits. She had heard a commotion, rushed outside to find two dogs, covered in blood, in the goat pen.

These dogs were, she believes, hunting dogs, but doesn't know the owners. I'm guessing that they now are under sentence of death as both neighbours are 'on patrol' with rifles.

Horrible business............................................

Please keep an eye on your dogs.........................................

 

[WJT]

OMG Bugbear how awful![:'(] I can imagine how you must be feeling. B***** hunters! [:@]

I hope they catch the dogs and of course the owners as soon as possible.

[Jinty]

Those poor people, those poor animals, I am sitting here in tears, how absolutely unbearable, and over something that could be prevented if people would look after their dogs properly, my heart goes out to everyone.

[raindog]

Yes, this is horrifying - but how are they going to recognise the dogs if they only saw them at night?

[Pierre ZFP]

Ummm Who said it was at night?  I took BB to mean 11:00 this morning

[Bugsy]

11.00 am, sorry, I still work to a 24 hours clock.

No sign of the dogs as yet so they may have moved on. The vet had to put one of the remaining sheep down yesterday afternoon, just too badly injured to survive.

It does make you very angry.

I'm quite torn, as a lover of all animals, as to whether the dogs should be shot for doing what dogs do when the pack instinct kicks in.

 Maybe they should just shoot the owner ?

[Deimos]

It sounds a horrific story.

Whilst clearly in this case there were guilty dogs

(to be found), there are other aspects which people should be aware

of regarding the importance of keeping your dog under control. On

occasions a farmer might lose a sheep and want to claim on somebodies

insurance. He might then accuse a dog he knows is allowed to roam

free, hoping to claim on that personal 3rd party liability insurance.

This actually happened to my piano teacher. Mid way through a

lesson the gendarmes arrived to investigate. Her poor dog could not

even catch a sheep if it was already dead it was so overweight and

old, but it had been accused so had to be checked-out. I ended-up

having to open the dogs mouth so the gendarmes could check for signs

of sheep in its mouth, etc. (the dog did not take kindly to the

gendarmes). After a bit they realised that catching up with a fence

post was beyond the dogs capabilities so left realising what was

really happening.

However, both to avoid unexpected behaviour (as in

this thread) and the risk of false accusations I am always with my

dogs outside and I make sure all the locals know this.

Ian

[Toodlepips]

[quote user="Bugbear"]

I'm quite torn, as a lover of all animals, as to whether the dogs should be shot for doing what dogs do when the pack instinct kicks in.

 Maybe they should just shoot the owner ?

[/quote]

 

How awful.

I agree Bugbear - it's a very hard situation.  Once an animal has this kind of bloodlust, it's very difficult, if not impossible, to trust them again.

I saw the sheep farmer in the field next to mine protrolling around with rifle cocked this morning - didn't look like he was hunting.  There is a big hunt up the road this morning, and the dogs are always wandering off and hunters often don't seem in much of a hurry to find them - sometimes they wander home several days later.