Graphic images: dog shot after six-week killing spree

A dog which went on a six-week sheep killing spree in Wexford was shot by a farmer last month. Eamon Furlong from outside Adamstown, Co Wexford, noticed one evening in mid-May his sheep were worried but couldn’t identify the source. That evening while gathering a batch of ewes for shearing he discovered six dead lambs, which had been half-eaten, and thus began six weeks of "bother and heartache".

"From then on we kept a tight eye on the sheep, but unfortunately two weeks later he struck again," Furlong told the Irish Farmers Journal. "This time I discovered two hogget ewes half-eaten, so I began to ask my neighbours for help. It got to the stage where we were nearly living with the sheep we were checking them that often."

In spite of the heavy surveillance measures the dog attacked again, injuring two sheep and chasing another two off the farm.

'Seen enough'

"At this point we had seen enough and a couple of days later he returned to my neighbour Tom Doyle. When we came upon him, he had killed one of Tom’s lambs and was eating it.

"I shot him clean and with that a tonne weight was lifted off my shoulders.

"The dog was bad but the owner was worse. It is totally unacceptable that animal was allowed to roam free and cause the amount bother and heartache that we’ve had to endure."

Speaking with the Irish Farmers Journal, Tom Doyle said: "I was fortunate the day he attacked our sheep was his last. He was in the middle of eating one of my lambs when we got him. We had roughly 15 neighbours out that day to try and pick him off.

"With a dog like that, you need as much help and luck as you can get."

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