Sheep killed by horrific dog attacks

Sheep belonging to local farmers have been the victims of horrific attacks by dogs in recent weeks.

Mark Shenton and his father Chris who graze sheep on land from Alderley Edge to Cheadle Hulme have had problems with dogs chasing their sheep on a number of occassions as nearly all of their fields have public footpaths crossing through.

However, during the past month they have witnessed some horrendous dog attacks on their land which lies on the side of the bypass near Handforth Dean. These incidents have resulted in four sheep being either killed or fatally injured.

The most recent incident occurred yesterday, Thursday 26th February, involving two dogs that were being walked by a dog walker. The dogs were wearing muzzles but had slipped them in order to get at the sheep.

Mark's wife Kate said "They were too aggressive for my husband to catch so he put himself between them and the sheep to protect it as it was collapsed. He had a hard time keeping them off the sheep and avoiding being bitten but eventually the dog walker caught them. The sheep has been put to sleep as the dogs had torn its back end to shreds."

Additionally, a sheep was found dead with terrible injuries to its face in December and another sheep was found dead last month having been literally torn apart. A third incident occurred last week when a dog tore a large part of the sheep's face and jaw bone out before running back to its owners. (see photo above)

Kate explained "Fortunately for the sheep the attack was witnessed so we were contacted and could attend to her (she was put down within the hour). Unfortunately it was witnessed by two 10 year old girls who, unsurprisingly, were very upset. We are more than concerned that this particular field is next to and directly accessed by a park: dogs that are in the frenzy of an attack are often uncharacteristically agressive towards humans in our experience."

Following an attack by a husky last year, seven lambs were either killed outright or put to sleep on the day due to the severity of their injuries. One further lamb died the day after despite veterinary treatment and several further lambs were treated by the vet and nursed by the owners for several weeks, thankfully they did survive.

Kate said "The physical damage to the sheep inflicted during these attacks can be horrendous. Animals killed outright are distressing but sometimes worse are those left alive with extremely horrific injuries. Facial injuries such as ripped off ears, noses and cheeks are probably most commonly seen. Torn legs also, particularly with smaller dogs. Some are disembowelled, these animals are usually found dead so we hope these occur after death. Puncture wounds are often serious as they are very hard to spot in a fleece and although the sheep may look uninjured they succumb to infection in the days following.

"But really very importantly no physical injuries need to occur to cause damage: chasing the sheep causes them massive stress. Sudden deaths do occur due to stress despite no physical injuries - sometimes whilst still being chased, sometimes in the days following. Sheep that run into ditches and ponds trying to get away from the dog drown, pregnant ewes are particularly vulnerable to chasing and they often abort their lambs if chased."

A ewe which suffered severe facial injuries, including having her ears ripped off was heavily pregnant and had to be put down along with her lambs as they were too premature to survive. Whilst another ewe, chased in the same incident, was pregnant with five lambs and aborted them all due to the stress on her heavily pregnant body.

Kate added "In these most recent attacks it would be very surprising if the owners of the dog(s) did not know their dog had attacked something - they must have been covered in blood and gore. It makes us very angry that they can walk away knowing an animal may be injured and making a conscious decision not to investigate or report it to us."

These incidents have been reported to the police who can be contacted on 101 if you have any information about the attacks. Alternatively information can be passed to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.