Pregnant sheep have been mauled by an out-of-control dog in Scotland on Friday, leaving uncertainty over the fate of dozens of unborn lambs.
The attack happened in Earlshaugh, near Camptown in the Scottish Borders on Friday (2 March).
Two sheep came out of the attacks with severe injuries, and the fate of over a hundred unborn lambs remain unseen.
Pet owners have been called to keep their dogs on a lead at all times when near sheep, especially during lambing time.
Farming couple Ann and John Lamb farm 66 north country cheviots. The out-of-control dog was on their land for over half an hour.
Ann Lamb told The Southern Reporter: “The whole lot were worried and two were mauled.
“The vet stitched them all together but it was through to the bone. You could see the scull, they will be disfigured but they will live.”
“One of them that was attacked, we think might have lost her lambs, but we don’t know about the rest as yet. We won’t know until we start finding wee bodies in the sheep shed,” Ann said.
“They might look alright on the outside but we don’t know what damage is done on the inside.”
The incident follows news of two women charged after separate alleged incidents of sheep-worrying in Scotland.
The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 says that if a dog worries sheep on agricultural land, the owner and/or the person in charge of the dogs is guilty of a criminal offence.
