The Manx National Farmers Union (MNFU) is calling for dog owners to keep their animals under control as more lambs were killed by dogs over the weekend.
The Union says that this weekend, a number of dogs have chased livestock and killed young lambs across the island.
This is despite ‘countless campaigns’ to educate the public on how to protect livestock and wildlife.
Lambs killed
One recent incident involved heavily pregnant ewes being chased to exhaustion, with one dying, and the rest having significant issues lambing due to the stress on their bodies.
More incidents this weekend alone have resulted in lambs being savaged to death.
In all of the incidents either the dog had escaped for a period of time and no one noticed, the dog went missing, or the owner simply lost control of their dog when they saw the livestock and could not get them to recall.
Keep dogs on lead
At this point, it really is not rocket science, and it is one very simple message: Keep your dog on a lead around livestock.
Although you may think your dog is not a killer, you cannot escape the fact that it is in a dog’s nature to chase.
Whether they attack or not, the simple chasing of livestock can lead to devastating endings for the livestock due to stress.
Note that the MNFU has not shared images of the recent attacks, as it says, ‘They are too shocking’.
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