NORTH CONNEL

A farmer has appealed to dog owners to keep their pets on a lead after a Suffolk gimmer on her North Connel farm had her neck ‘ripped open’ in an attack.

Achnacreebeag farmer Julie Campbell said: ‘Her neck was ripped open. The vet said she was lucky to still have a jugular.

‘The dog had also gone for her belly and she had teeth marks all down her back end.’

Julie made the shocking discovery when she was checking her flock on May 26.

The attack has been reported to police but the identity of the dog and its owner is still unknown.

‘We’ve had quite a few attacks over the years but she is the first to have survived,’ added Julie. ‘It was obviously a big dog that did this to her. I would never want to shoot a dog but the harsh reality of it is that if a dog is deemed out of control by a farmer it can be shot, even if it’s on an extendable lead. If it’s away from its owner and pinning a sheep down, it’s still out of control.’

She continued: ‘Dogs need to be kept on leads. Stay away from livestock. Argyll has thousands of other acres to walk in. It’s very easy to stress sheep and it’s extremely dangerous at lambing time. Even if you can’t see any lambs in a field, the worry can cause a pregnant sheep to abort.’

NFU Scotland senior agent Euan Warnock says problems with dogs arise quite regularly in Argyll and vary from sheep being stressed and chased away from their grazing to catastrophic and horrendous injuries involving many animals.