Recognising and Owning
For dog worrying of sheep to be made to cease, the happening needs to be utterly recognised, to be addressed, and where responsibility for it lies to be owned.
A 2024 police survey by the National Sheep Association (NSA) found that ‘78% of forces who took part reported an increase in sheep worrying by dog incidents’. It also found that ‘Dogs off lead and not under control was the main cause of attacks, followed by lack of responsibility, education and disrespect for livestock/farming’ (Sheep Worrying, Survey Results, National Sheep Association).
Governments need to give sufficient attention to the matter of dog worrying of sheep and bring in legislation to address the matter. Dog owners need to own that their dogs have a natural inclination to worry sheep, and own, and accept, their responsibility to see that their dogs do not worry sheep. Of course, there is too the onus on sheep owners and carers to see that the sheep for which are responsible are in an as-secure-from-threat-of-dogs situation as possible. Sheep outdoors on land will at least have some room to run from dogs. Sheep indoors will be trapped. A dreadful example of the latter was in 2023 where, of sheep in a farmer’s barn, 22 pregnant sheep were killed and 48 injured from attacks by two XL bully dogs (Andy Wells, ‘Farmer forced to shoot dead two XL bully dogs after they kill 22 sheep’, yahoo! news, 16th May 2024).
At a conference in the UK in 2023 ‘Dog owners received a stern warning from the Farming Minister Mark Spencer to keep their canines on a lead when near livestock after a sharp rise in attacks’. He ‘blamed the owners themselves, rather than the dogs, for making “bad choices” after an increase in the number of sheep worrying incidents and attacks on cattle over the past few months.’ And he said ‘There is no such thing as a bad dog. It is just bad owners.’ (Chris Brayford, ‘Farming Minister calls on dog owners to keep dogs on a lead’, Farmers Guardian, 16th June 2023).
Mark Spencer was Farming Minister in the Conservative Government. That Government supported a Private Members’ Presentation Bill ‘which would give police greater powers to crack down on irresponsible dog owners whose pets attack livestock’ introduced early in 2024 by Dr Thérèse Coffey. This was the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Bill. Its aim was ‘to amend the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953’ (‘Government backs proposals to tackle livestock worrying’, NFUonline, 17th May 2024). On 24th April 2024 the Bill was unamended (Commons Library Research Briefing, 15th May 2024). In a General Election on 4th July 2024 a Labour Government was elected.
It is clear that dog worrying of sheep is continuing and increasing. Dog worrying occurs because dog owners are not - for whatever reason - stopping their dogs from worrying sheep. Whether from choice or through ignorance, dog owners are opting not to accept and display responsibility for their dogs, not to control their dogs, when the dogs are indicating their natural inclination to see sheep as prey. The NSA survey, quoted above, conveys the message(s). To impose firmly recognition in dog owners that they must own responsibility for their dogs and for controlling them against worrying sheep, adequate legislation and much education are needed. And demanded to be generated in dog owners are respect for, and care about, sheep.
