A Dunblane farmer is urging dog owners to be more vigilant when walking their pets near livestock after a run of incidents in recent years caused the deaths of a number of pregnant sheep.
Heather McNicol farms land at Barbush – the field between Dunblane and Ashfield – and says that in the last year she has had at least three pregnant sheep drown after being chased by out-of-control dogs.Lambing season in Scotland usually take place between early March and late May, but in recent years there has been an apparent spike in the number of sheep worrying incidents during the busy time of year for farmers.
“I can’t comprehend how anyone could see their dog injuring or disturbing sheep and just walk away leaving them to suffer.” “So from now on, wherever possible, we will record any incidents that we can to use as evidence to pass on to the police.“They are prey animals and all they see is a predator. Heather also says that many dog walkers display a ‘devil may care’ attitude to the issue, adding: “We regularly meet people with their dogs bouncing about running and playing, either off lead or on long leads and often when we approach the owners they are at best confused and often quite unpleasant and adamant that their dog isn’t causing any issues because it’s not specifically running at or attacking the livestock – despite the sheep running in opposite directions all over the place or being...
Stirling Stirling News Police Scotland Police Stirling Council Dangerous Dogs Pets
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