A Wexford farmer went out to check on his flock last Saturday morning to discover that two of his sheep were killed and many more had been seriously injured in an attack by two dogs. This is the second such attack he has suffered in the last year.

“I went out on Saturday morning to have a look at the sheep,” Liam Poole from Hollyfort, Gorey, explained to the Irish Farmers Journal on Tuesday.

“I drove up to the field and I saw two dogs lying in the field, so I drove home and got my gun. I came back and luckily I managed to shoot one of the dogs. We have the other one given to the local vet. He’s microchipped so we’ll be able to identify the owner,” Poole said.

Two of Poole’s in-lamb ewe lambs were killed, 13 were injured in the attack and three are still missing. The two dogs had eaten the carcases of one of the two dead sheep and all that was left was the head and the ribcage.

“Last year, I had 100 ewes in a field. All were scanned at about two lambs per ewe. I had an attack by dogs and between dead ewes and ones that aborted, I had to put 60 lambs in bags. After this latest attack, I won’t be putting [the ewes] back for lambing, you couldn’t put them through all that again,” he said.

Poole said he contacted the gardaí, but they informed him that they would not be able to take a statement from him until after Christmas.

Poole is urging dog owners to make sure they can account for their dogs at all times.

“I have vet bills and other costs resulting from this, which I probably won’t get back, but owners must take responsibility for their actions. They can’t just assume that their dog won’t attack sheep. Unfortunately it’s every dog – the nature is there to do it,” he said.

Poole concluded by expressing his thanks to Pat Murray and James Kehoe of the Wexford IFA.

“The two lads were great. We didn’t know what to do at all when it happened, but they came in and helped us out. We cannot thank them enough.”

IFA National Sheep chairman John Lynskey said that the organisation was dealing with “all too common” dog attacks on sheep flocks in Wexford, Galway and Laois.

John Lynskey warned dog owners that their pets can inflict horrendous damage on a sheep flock in an attack and the owners can be held responsible for the losses involved, with serious financial and legal consequences.