Army may be called in to deal with blood-thirsty wild hound
MINISTER FOR DEFENCE Paul Kehoe is considering drafting in the defence forces to track down, and kill if necessary, a large wild dog which has killed more than 50 sheep over recent weeks.
The large hunting hound – believed to be a Belgian Shepherd – is being blamed for savaging more than 50 sheep in weekly attacks, despite being wounded by farmers attempting to defend their flocks.
‘We went out with the gun after the first attack and got a shot at him,’ said Patrick Lacey from Stokestown, New Ross, whose flock has been attacked several times by the vicious hound.
‘He went down in a field of fodder-beet but by the time we’d made it over to finish him off he was gone,’ said Mr Lacey, who runs a sheep, beef and tillage operation in partnership with his brothers Lorcan and Kieran and father Laurance just outside New Ross.
The first attack happened in the second week of January when 12 of Lacey’s 350 store hoggets were killed, with 15 more killed during another attack a week later. The latest attack happened at the weekend before last with another 20 sheep found dead.
The brothers estimate that they have lost at least 40 sheep so far, worth €4,000, but with many more ‘half-dead’ from the terror of the episode.
Local horse-breeders are equally worried that their valuable stock might be next to be attacked.
A party of up to eight locals armed with shotguns have failed to catch the dog during weekly searches of the locality. ‘He’s a very elusive and clever animal. Any sound at all and he’s gone. He evaded the hunting crew by circling about two to three miles back behind them,’ said local farmer Billy Moroney.
‘He’s also figured out how to navigate his way into fields with four strands of electric wire.’
It is believed that the dog was lost by ‘lampers’ out hunting wildlife at night using headlights to startle animals.
Mr Moroney has called for a ban on lamping to prevent this and related problems. ‘My cattle are terrified into running through fences because of lampers. It has to stop,’ he said.
A specialist hunter has been hired to kill the dog.
The IFA has said a farmer is within his rights to shoot any dog worrying sheep on their land, but that it’s not a policy they promote.
Wexford Irish Farmers Association chairman James Kehoe said he has contacted Deputy Kehoe due to the urgency of the situation.
Mr Kehoe has warned residents living in the Stokestown area near Dunganstown not to approach the animal.
The grey, lurcher German Shepherd cross dog has killed many, while several lambs are missing.
Mr Kehoe said: ‘I have contacted Paul Kehoe about getting the Defence Forces down to do a sweep of the area. This dog has tasted blood and he has gone wild. Plenty of farmers have tried to capture the dog to no avail. I would urge the public to be very careful. We don’t want anyone to be harmed or injured by him. He moves very quickly through an area. He is almost like a horse.’
He said the dog has been spotted in a backyard of a house.
‘It can be friendly in some ways but when you see it he flees. It has escalated to a point where farmers are at the end of their tether and we need to get this resolved quickly. Whatever is necessary we will do to ensure farmer’s flocks are kept safe.’
Mr Kehoe urged dog owners to ensure their dogs are not allowed to roam free during lambing season.
‘Dog attacks can have a serious impact on the welfare of other sheep, some of whom may have to be put down followng an attack.’
County Wexford dog warden Johnny Colfer said there have been numerous sheep kills in the Fethardon-Sea, Ramsgrange and Taghmon areas over recent weeks. He said this grey dog is on a killing spree in Stokestown and cannot be found.
‘There are 1,000 acres of land which includes forest where he could be. That’s a lot of hiding space for a dog.’
16,000 dogs were processed by the dog warden in 2016 and Mr Colfer said if they weren’t picked up, there would be no sheep left in the county. He said the danger is that this dog will be joined by other dogs and a killer pack will form.