Dogs savagely attacked eight sheep and left child witnesses 'delirious', farmer says
ITV News Midlands Correspondent Ben Chapman heard from a repeated victim of dog attacks
A farmer from Warwickshire has urged dog-walkers to keep their pets on leads after eight of his sheep were savagely attacked and left with puncture wounds.
Jonathan Hince from Shipston-on-Stour has been regularly plagued by dog attacks.
He recalled that a few months ago, children were left "delirious" after witnessing "two fighting dogs" brutally assault eight of Mr Hince's sheep.
"When I arrived at the scene, I could hear children screaming," he told ITV News.
"The dog owner was comforting his children who were sort of delirious really."
Mr Hince describes arriving at the scene of a bloody dog attack
Mr Hince believes attacks have increased since the start of the pandemic, when dog purchases have spiked and dog walkers have been spending more time in rural areas.
Findings from National Farmers' Union (NFU) Mutual back Mr Hince.
Attacks on sheep and cattle have increased by 10% compared to 2019, the organisation's statistics show. It also found that in the first quarter of 2021, attacks rose by 50%.
NFU Mutual's Rural Affairs Specialist Rebecca Davidson said owners' inexperience only accounts for some of these incidents.
"Our research has shown that 64% of dog owners let their dogs roam free in the countryside off the lead, yet half of them admit that their dog doesn't always come back when they're called," she said.
Ellena Nunnely, a dog trainer at Swift Dog Training, says even the best trained dogs should always be on a lead around farm animals.
"If they chase sheep, they can cross a road, they can get hung up on a barbed wire fence and the farmer is legally within his right to shoot the dog," she said.
"The only things being punished in this scenario are the dog itself and the sheep."
The government plans to give police more powers to tackle the problem, but many farmers are calling for leads to be a made a legal requirement around livestock.