'Ten of my sheep died in farm dog attack'

A Manx farmer has described how an "out of control" dog killed ten of his sheep and lambs in a sheep worrying incident, as he backed a union's call for stronger legislation.

Paul Costain, who runs a farm in the south of the island, wants to raise awareness of the dangers dogs pose to livestock, after a Belgian Malinois dog "ran" his sheep down and "picked up" his lambs.

Fellow farmer Michelle Hargreaves, said her sheep were "smothered" during a dog attack on her land, which left them "traumatised".

Following similar attacks, the Manx National Farmers Union (MNFU) are arguing incidents with off-lead dogs pose a "huge animal welfare" issue.

Costain was alerted to a runaway dog by a neighbouring farmer, as the incident unfolded two years ago.

"It had got out of someone's house on Sunday night and spent the evening chasing my neighbours sheep - resulting in some lambs being killed," he said.

"I thought I better check on my stock, and there was this Belgian Malinois just running sheep down and picking lambs up."

Costain had tried to stop the dog with his coat and putting his boot "in its face" as it tried to attack him, before running off "distracted" by the flock of sheep.

He said: "It was just motivated by animal instinct, you know when an animal has a look in its eye - it was out of control."

Costain said he took the option of "last resort" to shoot and kill the dog, before notifying police.

"As farmers you try and put bad news behind you, but it ended up killing four sheep and half a dozen lambs," he said.

Signs warning dog walkers to keep their pets on leads were ignored, he said, so he had locked certain gates for walkers coming on to or near his land.

"They feel as if they've the right to do what they want," he said.

A MNFU survey of farmers and dog owners over the issue of sheep worrying found that many dog owners thought farms should have better fencing to keep dogs out of fields.

Farmers had expressed concern that dog owners believed their dog would come back to them whilst being off-lead, yet only 50% of dog owners surveyed thought they had good recall skills.

The union recommends the Manx government should adopt laws similar to England, where unlimited fines can be issued.

In the Isle of Man there is a £1,000 limit and the union claims police have limited powers.

English forces can seize dogs, enter premises with a warrant, take forensic samples and detain dogs during an investigation.

Hargreaves, whose farm has a public footpath running through it, said dog owners had sometimes been "abusive" to her after alerting them to the risks posed.

"The people that this happens to get so nasty with you, that's the biggest problem," she said.

She said dog owners had told her their pets were "just having fun" running around in her field, but it causes "stress" to the animals.

"They think their animals are never going to hurt another animal, but once a dog takes chance, it doesn't take any notice of the owner," she said.

After the attacks, the MNFU provided her with warning signs which she said had helped.

The Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture said it planned to start consulting on potential changes to livestock worrying laws this month.

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