'Keep dogs on leads' call after lamb attacked at Moel Famau
Date of alert:
Monday, 22 May 2023
Crime Ref:
Force:
Wales - North Wales Police
Dog owners have been implored to keep their pets on leads at Moel Famau and other areas with livestock.
The call, from Denbighshire County Councillor and farmer Huw Williams, comes after a lamb was attacked on Friday, May 12.
Cllr Williams, ward member of Moel Famau, said he was informed by wardens just before lunch, and discovered that the lamb belonged to another farmer.
He explained: "This happens all the time - I've just taken the tenancy of my farm over from a lifetime friend who'd just had a bellyful of these sheep attacks.
"He reckons he always had 30 sheep less coming down at the end of the summer than he was putting up there.
"And if you imagine the growth of the bracken, the gorse and heather, once something is bitten or chased and killed, the chances of finding it are very slim, so there may be even more than we know about.
"I don't blame the dogs - I really want to say that. It's not the dog's fault.
"It's the careless dog owners, and they are only a small minority."
Cllr Williams said he was out looking for a lost ewe one weekend, and over the course of an hour he had to tell five owners to put their dogs on leads.
"People just ignore the signs," he said.