Police are urging people with dogs to take responsibility for their animals, after a lamb was attacked and killed near Boroughbridge.
The incident has prompted a warning to dog owners from dedicated rural policing officers in North Yorkshire.
On Wednesday 10 June 2020, at about 5.30pm, two dogs ran through a fence into a field of sheep at Marton Cum Grafton, near the village school.
The sheep in the field had all lambed, and sadly, one lamb was attacked and killed.
The lamb would have been worth £40, and will cost a further £40 to dispose of properly.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, quoting reference NYP-13062020-0108.
Inspector Matt Hagen, of North Yorkshire Police’s Rural Taskforce, said:
It’s horrendous for farmers to come across the bodies of sheep who have been attacked and often left to suffer a slow and painful death, not to mention the impact on their livelihoods.
We need dog owners to take responsibility for their animals – it’s important that dogs are kept securely when at home, and on leads and under control when walking near sheep fields.
In 2018, North Yorkshire Police contributed to research by the National Police Chiefs’ Council Livestock Worrying Police Working Group, which highlighted the economic cost of attacks on livestock.
The research also found that around 11 per cent of livestock worrying incidents involve repeat offenders (owners or walkers whose dog had worried or caused damage to livestock before), highlighting the importance of reporting all such incidents to the police.
Estimates by NFU Mutual suggest livestock attacks nationally cost farmers £1.2m in 2019.
Last year, a man was prosecuted and ordered to pay more than £800 in compensation after his puppy injured and killed lambs in Nidderdale.
