The Kerry IFA is calling for immediate action on dog control after another dog attack on sheep in the county.
The attack happened in West Kerry earlier this week.
Kerry IFA Hill Farming Chair Pat O’Shea says there’s huge frustration among farmers in seeing these attacks happen over and over again with no action taken.
The dog in question had gone missing on the hill, and an extensive search was carried out to find the dog.
The dog had chased sheep on the hill, and it caught one sheep before both dog and sheep fell off the hillside.
When the dog and the sheep were both found dead at the bottom of the hill, the dog still had its mouth around the sheep’s neck.
Kerry IFA Hill Farming Chair Pat O’Shea says Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue and his Department must act now on dog control legislation after this latest horrific attack.
He says people are losing vast amounts of livestock due to dogs on hills, and in this incident, it was lucky only one sheep was killed, only because the dog fell off the hill too.
Mr O’Shea added this could have been much, much worse if the dog itself was not killed.
He says there’s absolutely no reason for a dog to be on any farmland without permission of the farmer, or on a hill without permission from all relevant stakeholders.
Mr O’Shea says the message is still not getting through to dog owners, and tough legislation is needed on dog control, including microchipping all dogs, and heavy fines for non-compliance.
He says farmers will eventually have to ban all hill walkers from their land if this minority of dog owners continue to ignore them.
