Police demand new powers to tackle livestock attacks by dogs
ANIMAL WELFARE Minister Lord Gardiner has pledged to scrutinise recommendations for an overhaul of “ineffective” laws after the scale of dog attacks on livestock was exposed in a new report.
Some 1,928 animals were killed and 1,614 injured, costing farmers an estimated £250,000 as a result of 1,705 incidents, according to a new report published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
Those figures only take into account recorded attacks in the police force areas of North Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall, Sussex, North Wales and Hertfordshire between September 2013 and 2017. With the true extent of the crime far worse, police have called for a government review of its laws on livestock worrying.
Chief Constable David Jones, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead for wildlife and rural crime, said: “We need dog-owners to take responsibility for their animals, not just by putting their dogs on a lead when out walking, but by preventing them from escaping from home and causing damage to livestock.
“Above all, we need the powers to tackle this problem effectively and an overhaul of the outdated and sometimes ineffective rules surrounding livestock worrying.”
Insurance claims relating to livestock worrying in Yorkshire rose by nearly three-times between 2015 and 2017, costing farmers an estimated £125,000 last year, figures published last week by rural insurer NFU Mutual showed. A recent report
by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare estimated that around 15,000 sheep were killed by dogs in 2016, costing farmers £1.3m.
Currently, dog owners do not have to make a police report if their dog attacks livestock and a dog attack is not a recordable crime on police systems.
Lord Gardiner said: “The report makes a number of recommendations and proposals for improvements to the legislation which I will be looking at closely.”
Laurie Norris, North Riding and Durham county adviser for the National Farmers’ Union, said: “Livestock worrying and dog attacks have a massive impact on farmers, both financially and emotionally. We understand that owners must exercise their dogs, but measures need to be taken to prevent unnecessary suffering for our livestock.”
Sheep farmer Tony Patchett, who farms between Bedale and Northallerton, lost 14 lambs over two weeks last month in a dog attack.
He said: “It was devastating personally. I was really upset to think of the horrific way in which the lambs had been killed.”
Julia Mulligan, chairwoman of the National Rural Crime Network and Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, said it was “vitally important” for the impact of dog attacks on livestock to be fully understood and for police to have the right tools to act upon them.