High cost of out-of-control dogs

With an increase in sheep worrying being reported across the length and breadth of the country, a rural insurance company has revealed that claims for dog attacks on sheep in Scotland have quadrupled over the past two years.

And across the UK as a whole, it was estimated that the real cost to the industry of sheep worrying topped £1.6 million.

New research carried out by NFU Mutual showed that over 80 per cent of dog owners exercised their pets in the countryside, with over 60 per cent letting them roam off the lead. It also revealed that 7 per cent of owners admitted their pets had chased livestock at some point.

Launching a campaign to make dog owners more aware of the dangers and costs of sheep worrying, Martin Malone, the Mutual’s manager in Scotland, said: “For small farmers in particular, livestock worrying is devastating because it has a huge impact on their productiv-

0 Sheep worrying cost UK farmers an estimated £1.6m ity. While insurance can cover the cost of replacing stock killed and the treatment of injured animals, there is a knock-on effect on breeding programmes that can take years to overcome.”

He said that the number of incidents reported to NFU Mutual showed only part of the picture, as not all farmers in Scotland held insurance to cover livestock worrying and he estimated that while claims stood at £55,000 for Scotland, the real figure was likely to be closer to £300,000 last year. l Meanwhile damages paid out by the Ministry of Defence for livestock losses caused by low flying planes and helicopters were reported to have totalled more than £2m over the past four years.

The payments were made to cattle and pig farmers – but poultry producers accounted for the bulk of claims where chickens and other birds spooked by the noise had either been suffocated in the mass panic or had their laying potential severely curtailed.

A spokesman for the MOD said that low flying was an essential part of operational military training, adding that the MOD would pay “fair and reasonable” compensation in cases where the link between the presence of low-flying military aircraft and an incident had been proven.