Sheep worrying sanctions

The photographs of the sheep left dead and maimed by dogs back in March were genuinely horrific.

Without going into detail, there were survivors which simply would not have lived and had to be humanely destroyed after the attack.

It was a shock to the farmer and a financial loss to his business, yet the law simply is not up to the job of punishing the owner of these dogs proportionately.

The worry is that the dogs may have a taste for this kind of thing - and the next object of their fun may be a child rather than a ewe hogg.

If dog owners will not control them, the law will have to rapidly catch up and apply proportionate sanctions.