Death of 13 lambs 'worst thing I could ever imagine', says farmer

A farmer has described the death of 13 of his lambs as "the worst thing I could ever imagine".

The animals were found dead on a farm and are believed to have been killed sometime between 19:00 GMT on Friday and 07:45 GMT on Saturday.

Kevin McGivern said he arrived at his field with his brother to feed the sheep at around 08:00 GMT on Saturday and he "just knew from the distance there was something badly wrong".

"At least 11 had their necks broke, the others were probably strangled," McGivern said.

The farmer told BBC News NI that police arrived quickly at the scene at the Drumsesk Road in Rostrevor, County Down.

"It was like a crime scene, really," he said.

McGivern said that sheep are a good trade at the moment, but for him it is "not about the price".

"This is not job satisfaction for us, this is not something we want. It's not about the value of them, it's just not a job satisfaction. After putting in so many hours, doing everything as well as we could for them, this is not what we want to see," he said.

McGivern is planning to take some of the sheep who lost their lambs up to his farmyard. There, he will try to adopt lambs onto the sheep, something he described as a "very difficult job".

"It's sort of like a welfare issue to relieve the ewes of the milk. Hopefully, if they adopt another lamb it makes the ewe feel better, it's the best of a bad job."

PSNI Insp Reynolds described the incident as a "shocking crime".

"It appears that their necks had been deliberately broken," Reynolds said.

"We would be keen to hear from anyone who noticed anything unusual in the area during the times above."