Following a dog attack which occurred on a Co Kerry sheep farm on Monday 19 June, the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has demanded immediate action from Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue and his Department.

Kerry IFA sheep committee chair Pat O’Shea said that they must act now in relation to dog control legislation to ensure attacks like this don’t continue to carry devastating consequences.

O’Shea said that the IFA and farmers are “unfortunately left asking questions” of the Minister and the Department of Agriculture on where the much-needed stronger dog control legislation is.

'Working tirelessly'

“[The] IFA [has] been tirelessly working for dog control laws to be strengthened up, but the Minister has failed to move quickly and we continue to see attacks like these devastate more farm families,” he said.

Although the Government cabinet was recently presented with tougher restrictions, which the IFA recognised as a start in the right direction, no more progress has been achieved to stop dog attacks on livestock, he argued.

The IFA is again appealing to all dog owners to be extra vigilant of their dogs and their whereabouts at all times.

Kerry attack

Tomas Griffen is the sheep farmer where the recent dog attack occurred and he spoke about the events on Monday 19 June to the Irish Farmers Journal.

The Kerry farmer said that he had one sheep killed in the attack.

“The sheep’s horn was tangled with his [dog’s] collar and the two of them were lying dead on a ledge off the top of the cliff," he said.

“Things like this happen every few weeks during the summer - we have signs up saying no dogs on the hill and walkers still take them up. This time we were lucky that it was just one sheep.”

“The Government need[s] to change the legislation; no dogs should be on the hill, let that be on or off the lead,” he urged.

Although it was one sheep that was killed, it could have been many more, as the other sheep must have turned before the edge, O’Shea told the Irish Farmers Journal, adding that “one sheep killed is one sheep too many”.

You can read about a previous dog attack that left 70 sheep dead in Kerry here.