DNA tests for dogs as attacks on sheep rise

DNA profiling to catch dogs suspected of causing carnage to sheep flocks is being developed by police and government forensic scientists.

National guidelines on how to extract samples of dog DNA from animal wounds have been drawn up by the scientists and issued to vets, biologists and police so they can collect the evidence they need to charge a suspected dog’s owner.

So serious is the problem of sheep worrying that the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has also considered setting up a national DNA database for dogs when resources allow.

Sheep worrying cost farmers £1.2million last year, a 40 per cent rise on 2015, according to the National Farmers’ Union’s (NFU) insurers, which said there had been a surge in claims, notably in Wales.

Sgt Tom Carter, wildlife lead for Sussex Police, said: “There’s no reason why we can’t apply forensic science … we can take a swab from the injury or bite wound and a swab from the dog’s mouth and match those two.”

Sgt Carter has already used DNA analysis to convict the owner of a dog for hare coursing, one of the first successful prosecutions for the crime using such forensic technology.

He said other forces including Dorset and North Wales were also extending dog DNA techniques to tackle sheep worrying.

In the long term, he said, there was also the possibility of a national database, drawing on work by councils such as Barking and Dagenham, which have established small-scale dog databases to identify owners who allowed their pets to foul parks and pavements.

“There’s no reason why we can’t use the same databases for sheep worrying,” he said.

Police have called for increased fines for sheep worrying, which can be prosecuted under a 1953 Act for which the maximum penalty is £1,000.