Holyrood turns spotlight on dog attacks on livestock

A consultation aimed at introducing new powers to discourage the growing number of dog attacks on sheep and other livestock was launched in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

MSP for the South of Scotland region, Emma Harper, said there was a need to strengthen the maximum penalties available for such attacks, provide new and extended powers to ban offenders from owning a dog, the introduction of powers to enable evidence to be gathered more effectively and the ability to delegate functions in order to increase the pool of enforcing officers.

Ms Harper said that campaigns to raise awareness of the situation had met with varying degrees of success – but she said the wording of the current legislation, first drawn up in 1954 needed to change:

“Livestock worrying is a historic term used to describe the chase, attack, mauling, mutilation, stress and trauma of livestock by dogs.”

She said that more accurate terms such as “livestock attack” or “dog attack”, in order to reflect the stress and mutilation which was suffered by livestock

0 Emma Harper called for stronger penalties

chased by off-lead uncontrolled dogs should be used to highlight the true nature of the offence.

Harper said that some dog-walkers had claimed that sheep were simply “feart” when chase by dogs – an opinion which showed a total misunderstanding of the real financial, welfare and additional costs involved in attacks.

Supporting the move, NFU Scotland said that livestock attacks continued to be a blight on Scottish agriculture with 338 incidents of attacks on livestock by dogs reported to police last year.

Union vice president, Martin Kennedy said that farmers felt the outdoor access code requirement for owners to keep their

dogs ‘on a lead or under close control’ didn’t provide sufficient protection to them or their livestock.

He said the union wanted to see the introduction of higher fines, the ability to ban persistent offenders from owning dogs and additional powers for the police:

“So we are delighted that some of these asks are included within the proposed bill from Emma Harper MSP.”

“Irresponsible dog owners need to realise the impact they are having on farmers and crofters and their livestock. It is not necessarily about the financial losses they face, but the trauma for livestock.”