Was I being overly sensitive? *TW animal death

[alphapie]

So I live in a small Villiage, as a previous city dweller some of the downsides of living in the countryside have taken a while to get used to, such as cows waking us up at 5am, free roaming peacocks destroying our cars paint on the roof and general manure smells every now and again. But after 4 years we are getting there.

Last night a local farmer had 40 lambs killed, he thinks it was a dog attack, instead of just putting a normal post about it on the local FB group (like he and other farmers have before) his son instead decided to share 20 graphic photos of the dead lambs along with the post asking for information or if anyone saw anything.

Now I was pretty upset to be scrolling through FB and to then see images of lambs ripped apart, insides everywhere, pilled on top of each other and commented this on the post. Reminding him that there are teens and young people in the group and it's maybe not the best thing to put on here, to be fair I'd expect many people, adults included would feel upset seeing these images on their FB feed.

I was jumped on by the farmer, other farmers in the village, the 'we've been here for 30 years, go back to the local city if you don't like it' lot and even accused of being the attacker, despite not owning a bloody dog.

I personally also think 40 lambs in one go is unlikely to be a dog attack, but didn't comment that of course.

Was I being unreasonable or overly sensitive to find this shocking and to maybe suggest it's a bit too much to post in a FB group where local children often post looking for summer work or weekend car washing for pocket money? Am I turning into one of those 'think of the children' people!

He's probably very upset at how they died. A well-run kill line is quick and efficient and designed to cause the animals minimal stress and pain. A dog attack is usually protracted (the last local one I heard of lasted half an hour) and terrifying for the sheep, who are often ripped to shreds before they die.

It's a shame your empathy for the animals doesn't extend to the person at the sharp end of this one.

I'm with the farmer on this. Given that no children under 13 should be on fb that's old enough to see the carnage dogs can do to sheep. He was quite right to show it to locals.

It’s not weird at all. You’re happy to have people kill and dismember animals for your tea, but can’t cope with the reality of what that looks like.

meat eaters complaining about the sight of a slaughtered animal are massive hypocrites

This. The only difference then is that people can convince themselves it was wasn't once a sentient being cause it no longer has a face.

Couldn't you have sent a private message to the farmer instead of publicly trying to shame them at a time they have lost their livestock and a chunk of the livelihood. The reaction by him and others sounds like you might well have precedent for being a busy body who likes to have her say on things, as does your moaning about country smells and cows waking you up!

YABVU You had to witness a photograph on Facebook. I have much more sympathy for the poor farmer that had to see those dead lambs in the flesh. Go back to the city if you can't cope with rural life. I hope they find out who is responsible for this.

That is a vile post.

You are looking for sympathy posts while clearly showing your ignorance, and lack of empathy.

Just a point: the farmer is entitled to be devastated about the financial loss, the disgusting clean up job etc, but he is probably also upset about the manner of death. Death in the abattoir is a lot quicker, cleaner, and less painful than being disembowelled by dogs. Not pleasant, but less awful. OP, yabu. Rural life means getting up close and personal with death (and farming), and FB "community standards " are bollocks anyway. You shouldn't have reported, that wasn't helpful, and you will get a reputation now, "school mum friends" or no.

I’ve already said the images themselves don’t bother me but discussion moves on and we’re allowed to make other points. That’s what happens on forums so it seems that you are the one struggling with the basics here. But he was actually unreasonable to post them it seems as that sort of thing isn’t allowed on Facebook. Facebook agree as they removed the images.

Rural Crime units have been known to share the images themselves precisely because some people don't want to believe or can't accept that their offlead animals are doing anything other than getting livestock a little antsy for five minutes - and where it's been a deliberate choice, it's hoped that somebody who knows of it is no longer fobbed off with a 'He just had a quick runaround, no damage done, it's farmers trying to blame dogs for everything when they're probably just trying to make some money on insurance' and reports the owner.

Sounds more like a fox than a dog.

I agree with you OP. A girl I know kept posting photos of dead cats on the road.

Nobody needs to see that

FB community standards aren't especially a good barometer of whether something is actually offensive.

A friend posted a photo of a large spider in her house and asked for suggestions to get rid of it.
I replied, "Agh.. Burn the house down?"
Yep, that was deleted due to "breaching community standards".

Yes, it was probably a dog or pack of dogs. Probably the owners are actually aware because they'll at best have been missing overnight.
Sheep escape. It is something they're very good at. If you've lived in the countryside for long you'll have seen sheep get into the most ridiculous situations.

Hope they catch the owners.

YABU. It's not about you. This farmer lost his livestock, lambs have been ripped apart for no reason at all. It's not about you.

And he's right that people need to see it, and not just a post about '40 lambs' and get on with their day.

Get a grip OP! You're in the countryside and complaining that there are cows and manure smells out there? What did you expect? Unless you are 100% vegan wind your neck in. Doesn't sound like you're particularly well suited to country life.

The thing to keep in mind OP is that this will have been a devastating loss to the farmer, both financially and emotionally. It’s probably happened to him on more than one occasion and to other farmers he knows and he’s sick to the back teeth of it happening.

I think you had good intentions worrying about people being upset at the images but it was incredibly insensitive and badly timed given what this farmer is having to deal with.

For what it’s worth I live in a rural area and we have seen a massive influx of people from the cities in recent years and they are always the ones shouting loudest to change things to the way that they find acceptable. It gets tiresome after a while.

I could have been an intentional attack, so a group with dogs going out to cause mayhem, just like the ones that go out to vandalise or to have fights in town.

So looking for info might be unusual vehicles, seeing unusual group of people and dogs around the village etc.

There are complete arsehols around.

And 1 fox - no imo

you were wrong to argue on facebook about any local topic
but you were wrong here
it is shocking, but a true fact of life in farms.

Sounds more like a fox than a dog.

Why do you think it's more likely to be a fox?

Thousands of sheep are killed by dogs every year in this country - mostly accidentally or at least unintentionally (sheep being in the wrong place because they've escaped, for example, or dogs having got out without owners noticing) but occasionally it happens on purpose too.

Lampers, for example, will go out with packs of lurchers and terriers to hunt wildlife - and they won't care if a few dozen sheep are killed along the way.

i have never heard of a lamper @coffeecupsandfairylights
i have seen people go rabbiting and bringing back rabbits

It's pretty much the same thing.

I'm rural and it happens a lot round here sadly.

Lamping means going somewhere with dogs, shining a torch until it lights up an animal's eyes and sending the dogs after it (or shooting). Theoretically, the Lamper only sends the dogs after a rabbit or rat (as it's illegal to hunt anything else with dogs), but in reality, Deer, Foxes, Hares, Badgers, Otters, probably Beavers in the few areas where they've been reintroduced - and some thick shites still believe that Beavers eat fish - and Sheep/Livestock are also either targeted or 'accidentally' attacked that way.

It would have to be a fucking big fox to be able to achieve that.

I wonder if she actually meant Wolves?

Don't think the Farmer is wrong to post the images but they should've put on that Facebook graphic image thing that blurs photo so people have to click to view it.

It's probably dogs that have escaped from home rather than being walked. Maybe even someone abandoning their dog/s in quiet location.
My dogs rescue often have dogs in being rehomed as local livestock has proved too much temptation, likely farmers have already had a loss and part of agreement is that the dog is removed but it's not difficult to find a more urban home for them.

I wouldn't be surprised if farmers do have higher suicide rate as most have access to a gun for a quick death and often under financial pressure.

When have I complained about manure smells and cows? Simply stated they were something to get used to.

Maybe you could do with some reading lessons