A Co Clare farmer shot a Rottweiler last Saturday after he found the dog attacking his sheep in Crusheen, the county’s dog warden has confirmed.

Clare dog warden Frankie Coote said a week before the dog was shot, the same farmer had five sheep killed and five more injured in a dog attack.

“A farmer arrived at his field and a dog had killed five sheep and injured five more. A dog was seen in the field next to it, where it wasn’t actually in with the sheep, and it was a Rottweiler."

At the time of the first incident, the guards and Coote were contacted.

“Exactly a week later, the farmer rang me and said the dog was on the way down the road again towards the sheep, loose.

“He rang the guards. By the time the guards got there, the dog had stopped to attack the sheep, so the farmer shot him. It was a Rottweiler. He would be entitled to do that,” he said.

Other incident

Two dogs were also shot in a separate incident in Clarecastle a couple of weeks prior to this, Coote said.

Four dogs killed five sheep and injured eight more in Clarecastle, outside Ennis.

“Two of those dogs were shot by a gun club that happened to be in the area. They rang me to see had they permission. Two of the dogs got away. They did huge damage,” the dog warden added.

In Clare, the number of dogs attacking sheep has decreased on average over the last number of years, Coote said.

Historically, there would have been 24 or 25 on average annually, with this brought down to four or five in recent years.

However, this year has seen a slight rise in the number of attacks in the county, the dog warden confirmed.

Advice

Coote said no matter what size the dog is, he is advising owners to keep their dogs under control both day and night.

“My advice is, if you are in an area where there are sheep, obviously, you know, you’ll hear them and you’ll see them on your way home from work. No matter what type of dog you have, no matter how small it is, any dog will kill sheep,” he said.

The dog warden added that sheep are in lamb at the moment, which represents an extra financial burden to a farmer if sheep are lost.