Buckinghamshire residents urged to keep dogs on leads by livestock owners
Animal scares and attacks are more common during lambing season
Dog owners in Buckinghamshire are being urged to use leads near livestock.
Buckinghamshire is fortunate to have a variety of footpaths and rural areas to explore, however anyone visiting them with their dogs are being encouraged to use leads.
Lamb in season is underway and each year this time comes with a rise of incidents where a dog has scared, or in some cases attacked, livestock. The issue can affect other animals though, like birds who nest on the ground.
Daniel is a farmer in Buckinghamshire, who says it is a common issue for livestock owners:
"I think every livestock owner will have had this issue at some point in their career.
"We have had issues of livestock worrying on our farm and its a common misconception that owners don't see any blood after an incident of worrying and think its okay.
"But in most cases the fatality to whatever animal has been worried is because of the stress.
"It is a particular issue at the moment because of lambing. so ewes are pregnant or feeding young lambs.
"When they are worried by dogs off of leads it causes anxiety and exhaustion and in a large amount of cases that can result in death of that sheep."
Dog ownership has increased due to lockdown which means that there are some dogs who haven't been socialised and trained as they usually would be.
There has also been an increase in people visiting rural areas, and exploring their local countryside which could mean more dogs are going through livestock areas.
Daniel says livestock worrying and attacks are issues that cause a lot of pain:
"The last incident of worrying we had on our farm we did manage to retrieve the dog and we spoke to the owner.
"She was utterly mortified and it can have a real impact on the owner who thought they knew and trusted it. It can be really hard to see that relationship affected between the owner and their pet.
"Obviously there is a financial cost but the biggest tragedy for us is knowing our animals suffered and how they died if it is fatal.
"It is just heart breaking all round to see it happen."