Stray dogs blamed for livestock deaths
STRAY dogs have been blamed for killing 63 sheep and one lamb in two separate incidents in the villages of Kaleburnu and Bostancı.
On Monday it was reported that two stray dogs entered the “Soybir Small Cattle Breeding Farm” in Kaleburnu owned by Kemal Soybir, and killed 50 sheep that had recently given birth.
Mr Soybir said he had left the farm at 6pm the previous evening and was “devastated” when he came back to the farm at 5.30am the next day.
Speaking to Cyprus Today’s Turkish-language sister newspaper Kıbrıs, Mr Soybir said: “There is no unit in our area for stray dogs and we aren’t allowed to shoot them. Two stray dogs have been roaming around my farm for a week.
“My father said to get a rifle from someone and shoot these dogs. I said ‘no, they have the right to live too’. One week later here we are. Who will pay for my losses?
“I separated the lambs from their mothers at night. If I hadn’t, they would be gone too.”
Mr Soybir put his financial losses at 450,000TL.
“I spent one million Turkish lira setting up this farm and other sheep pens,” he said. “I built the most systematic and modern farm. I paid 30,000 euros for a milking system, which is now 42,000 euros. . . I need help from the authorities because this is no small loss. The dogs entered the farm by digging under the door and attacked the animals.
“The animals all piled in one corner on top of each other, they couldn’t take it. Others climbed onto the dead animals and crossed over to the other dairy farm. Fifty of my sheep perished and there are four or five that are injured.”
Elsewhere dogs were blamed for killing 13 sheep and one lamb at a farm in the Güzelyurt village of Bostancı last Saturday.
Villager Hüsne İnik said he had left the farm the previous evening after feeding the animals and returned the next morning to be met by the “shocking scene”. He said his financial losses amounted to 55,000TL.