Sheep worrying

Amending Government legislation can be like turning an oil tanker around – slow, frustrating, sometimes impossible.

Police dealt with more than 1,100 incidents of sheep worrying in 2020, up from 800 in 2019, with some forces called out to multiple attacks each week.

As I write, the tourists are back in the village and the streets and footpaths are once again teeming with day trippers making the most of the spring sunshine.

Farming bodies have called for further promotion of the Countryside Code to help tackle increasing ’anti-social behaviour’ incidents which are putting farmers, livestock, wildlife habitats and livelihoods at risk.

Photos of the aftermath of a dog attack which left a number of sheep and a pet dog dead have gone viral after being shared by online media platform LADbible.

New legislation aimed at addressing the increasing level of attacks on livestock, including raising the maximum fine to £40,000, has been debated in the Scottish Parliament.

50 in-lamb ewes were smothered and suffocated to death in a horrific dog attack.

A pregnant Highland heifer was mauled to death by a Rottweiler dog which had got loose without its owners’ knowledge.

Dog owners have been reminded to keep their pets on a lead around livestock after a farmer was forced to shoot a cockapoo which was chasing his sheep.

The Lynx UK Trust has singled out a forest near Loch Lomond, Scotland as a ‘lynx paradise’.