Somerset farmer left badly shaken after one of his sheep was mauled to death by a dog
Date of alert:
Thursday, 26 May 2022
Crime Ref:
Force:
Avon & Somerset Constabulary
A SOMERSET farmer was left badly shaken after one of his sheep was mauled to death by a dog.
Tom Wheeler, who farms near Norton St Philip, found his animal dead on Wellow Lane. He said the ewe had its hind end bitten and chewed while it was still alive.
Mr Wheeler urged dog owners to “be aware” of how quickly things could go wrong and reminded them to keep their pets on a lead when around livestock.
He said: “At 4.15pm yesterday afternoon, my next-door neighbour, who’s 14, was walking along Wellow Lane with his grandfather. He phoned me and he said ‘one of your sheep has got out’.
“I said ‘can you put it back?’ and so he did that. At the time, I wondered if it was someone else’s sheep because I couldn’t understand why it would be in the lane.
“Then, at 4.50pm, he phoned again and he said ‘we’ve just come across one of your sheep dead in the lane’. He said ‘it’s bleeding and it looks like it’s been bitten’.”
“So I jumped in the truck and drove down there. When I arrived, I saw the road was covered in blood and the sheep had been really badly bitten and chewed – probably by a dog.
“There was blood all over the sheep, all over the road, and all over me when I lifted it into the truck, so somebody must have a dog that has come back covered in blood.
