Sheep killed by family pet

A LARGE DOG killed one sheep and seriously injured several others in a vicious attack in the Fethard on Sea area recently.

Dog warden John Colfer said this was one of three incidents involving dogs attacking or attempting to attack sheep in the county over the past ten days.

The attack occurred at Newtown, Fethard-on-Sea, on Tuesday, December 13, at around midday.

Mr Colfer said the dog entered the field and killed one sheep who was in lamb and badly injured several other sheep who were in lamb.

‘This time of year for some reason or other when the long nights come in and the short days arrive, it triggers something in the dogs. You wouldn’t have one sheep kill from April to November and for some reason this happens at this time of year, every year,’ Mr Colfer said.

The dog owner handed the dog over to Mr Colfer who has him at the pound. He said the sheep were heavy in lamb.

‘There will be costs involved in that as a sheep in lamb is worth a lot of money. We had another incident, this time of dog worrying, in Inch in North Wexford recently and in the Screen area also.

‘There was a German Shepherd in the field of sheep but the owner was there so they were able to run it. We haven’t been able to find it. You would have to be a shepherd 24/7 these days.’