A leading insurer has issued a plea to dog owners to keep their animals under control as peak lambing season gets underway.
NFU Mutual estimates that farm animals worth £95,000 were killed or injured by dogs last year in the North East alone.
It comes as new research by the insurer found that 73 per cent of dog owners let their pets roam off-lead in the countryside - up 64 per cent on a year ago.
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This is despite the fact that almost half (49 per cent) say their dog doesn't always come back when called.
Rebecca Davidson, Rural Affairs Specialist at NFU Mutual , said: “Behind the figures, these horrific attacks are causing unbearable suffering to farm animals and anxiety for farmers as they deal with the aftermath.
“There’s a new generation of dog owners whose pandemic puppies are coming of age and they simply don’t know how their dog is going to behave around livestock.
“It’s hard for people to imagine that their affectionate, family pet could injure or kill another animal and it’s not only physical attacks that can harm livestock.
"Even if a small dog chases sheep and they don’t make contact, they can separate lambs from their mothers or the distress and exhaustion from the chase can cause a pregnant ewe to die or miscarry.
“Livestock attacks can have a huge impact on farmers’ livelihoods. While insurance can cover the cost of replacing stock killed and the treatment of injured animals, there is a knock-on effect on breeding programmes that can take years to overcome.
“We want people to enjoy the countryside and recognise the huge benefit it brings to people’s wellbeing. We’re simply asking for people to keep their dogs under control and on a lead.”
Dog owner visits to the countryside are likely to increase in the coming weeks as the weather improves - just as sheep are at their most vulnerable.
NFU Mutual is calling for dog owners to:
- Keep dogs on the lead when walking in rural areas where livestock are kept but let go of the lead if chased by cattle
- Be aware that even small dogs can cause the distress, injury and death of farm animals
- Report attacks by dogs to the police or local farmers
- Don’t let dogs loose unsupervised in gardens near livestock fields – many attacks are caused by dogs which escape and attack sheep grazing nearby
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