Farmer issues threat to dog owners (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Farmer issues threat to dog owners

A CRICKLADE farmer has said he will shoot and kill any dog he finds threatening his flock of sheep and ruining his livelihood.

Cricklade Town Council received an anonymous letter from a local farmer complaining about dog owners using the Sustrans cycle path who thoughtlessly allow their animals to stray on to neighbouring farmland.

In the letter the farmer says several of his sheep have been worried and have miscarried lambs as a result.

The farmer is asking dog owners using the path to exercise greater control over their pets and to stop them entering fields.

Farmers are legally allowed to shoot dogs which persistently scare livestock under provisions made by the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953.

The act also allows farmers to sue dog owners for damages if their pet worries farm animals.

Lynne Ludlow, Assistant Town Clerk at Cricklade Town Council said many people did not take the problem seriously and did not understand the farmer's threat.

She explained farmers lost money when they lost lambs.

She said: "Unless you are a farmer you can't understand."

A sign in the council office has been put up to warn the public farmers are well within their right to shoot dogs which scare livestock.

Cricklade Town Council is now urging dog owners to control their dogs along the Sustrans Path to prevent any being shot and further lambs being lost.

It is now hoped that the problem will cease as the lambing season finishes. However the farmer has pointed out the field is also used for young cattle later in the year and is hoping they too are not worried by dogs.