Sheep farmers shot dogs dead

Sheep farmers shot dead hunting dogs after lambs were slaughtered. The dogs, including beagles and cross-breeds, had been on a supervised hunt in Co Clare.

But eight dogs broke away from the pack and attacked sheep on two separate farms in Broadford.

The county’s dog warden Frankie Coote said yesterday the dogs killed two sheep and injured several more.

But more would possibly have been slaughtered, only for the alertness of farmers. He said the farmers, who notifiied the authorities, were acting within their rights. The lambing season is currently at its peak.

Mr Coote said: “More than likely a deer brought them through the land and once they came on the young lambs, that was it.

“Even supervised, if they come on a deer, it can bring them anywhere. That’s what we believe happened. There are a lot of deer in that area.

Mr Coote said the owner of the dogs had been identified. “The owner was with the dogs when they lost the pack. This is unusual for hunting dogs to do but all dogs will do it,” he explained.

“There were two farms. One was alerted and he went to his farm. Four of the dogs were shot while attacking the sheep.

“Then they went up to check the neighbour’s farm and there were four more dogs up there, attacking sheep.”

The dog warden said the attacks has long-term consequences for farmers. “All of those sheep were ready to lamb. You don’t know now whether they’ll have dead lambs or other problems.”

The incidents have been reported to gardaí.

“It’s completely legal to shoot dogs once livestock has been attacked, once the landowner notifies the dog warden or the gardaí immediately. They contacted me and I went down and removed the carcasses. I’m now in the process of meeting the owner.”

Mr Coote said he had never previously came across such a large number of dogs being shot together.

“This is the most, although I’ve seen dogs shot that did a lot more damage. The reason there wasn’t more damage was the farmers had been alerted and came on them. Otherwise the dogs would have slaughtered what was there. There is no winners in this,” he reflected.