Concerned about trigger happy farmers

[Staffielove23]

I read a case where a dog was shot whilst on a lead. I came across this randomly whilst researching gun law. The dog had previously worried sheep and the owner had managed to put their dog back on a lead, but the farmer believed it would get loose again and shot it. The farmer was cleared of all charges in court recently and I believe this sets a worrying precedent.

It used to be the case that a dog could only be shot whilst in the act of sheep worrying to protect livestock, and not afterwards as punishment or a preventative measure against future attacks. This recent case isn’t reflective of this as the dog was shot because the farmer thought the dog might get loose again so it was done as preventative action.

Sheep worrying is ofcourse a crime and I support farmers when shooting is done as a last resort, and owners should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I walk my dog on a lead near livestock, always have and always will. It used to be the case that dog owners didn’t have to worry about their dogs getting shot providing we kept our dogs on a lead and under control. This no longer seems to be the case. If I am walking adjacent to a field or on a right of way, if the farmer is concerned or believes there is evidence of dog having previously worried sheep despite my dog not being guilty of doing such, then could they potentially shoot my dog as a preventative method and face no legal repercussions?

I feel the law is out of date and the authorities really don’t seem to have a good track record when it comes to holding farmers to account. I found another case where a dog was shot and fatally injured. Instead of ending its suffering the dog was left to suffer unnecessarily and it seems an awful lot like causing unnecessary suffering to an animal. There was another case where a dog ran into a field of sheep, which is totally unacceptable but it was running back to owner when it was shot. The owners was clearly very irresponsible but I still believe, based on the facts available to me, that the farmer acted disproportionately. Perhaps there is more to the story, I don’t know. I feel I’ve opened up a can of worms and I worry for my own dog and personal safety now.

As long as the dog is still on the farmers land it should be shot.
Blame the dog owners, not the farmers.
Shooting is the only thing you can do to a dog who has a taste for worrying sheep. They will do it again

Not if it’s on a secure lead.

Well in the story about Benji, the dog was worrying sheep, that's a farmer's livelihood, his sheep are also likely to die or if pregnant the ewe will have a spontaneous abortion which means a dead lamb and possibly a dead ewe, and that's not right either. Yes it's horrible for the owner, but they didn't have their dog under control, the owner is at fault on this one, not the farmer.
But then I used to have a very small flock of sheep, had a sheepdog too. I loved them both (collie and my flock) my girls used to come when I called them, honestly sheep are lovely, dim, but lovely! As for my collie, well she was a gem of a dog, clever, obedient, and so cuddly...I still miss her nearly 30 years on.
You can't go round shooting at people though.

This

Yeah, we may have been right to shoot but why not finish the job? Why leave it suffering? Should have been charged with causing unnecessary suffering to an animals.

Nobody is arguing against the devastation that sheep ‘worrying’ can cause for farmers and livestock.

My point was if I walk my dog on a short lead, can a farmer shoot her with no legal repercussions, if he believes her to be risk? The farmer could accuse my dog of having previously worried sheep, and it’s his word against mine. He could think she was about to get loose when she was securely leashed and decide to shoot. Potentially harming me, the owner, in the process. That’s why this case sets a dangerous precedent.

This. No two ways about it - be in full control all the time or lose the dog.
There’s really no excuse

Yes it should if it has been off lead and worrying sheep.

@Staffielove23 Should the farmer have blown the dog's head off?

People are really stupid. Don't let your dogs near sheep and keep them on lead around livestock. It is never ever the dog's fault - it's always the owner's.

FWIW I have a dog and am not a farmer.

The dog owners caused that

The problem is, when a farmer takes a gun out to deal with a dog, there’s undoubtedly going to be a dog owner with it. Who will be very scared, angry and upset. Things can escalate quickly and unexpectedly. Nobody should be taking a gun out to confront another person.

Yeah well she also says:
‘My dog wasn't in the field any less than ten minutes. Between losing him and finding him dead was ten minutes’

So was the dog dead when she saw him in the car or did he die at the vets? She also says he was gone for ten minutes but that he didn’t touch or harm the sheep. How can she know what he did if she lost him for ten minutes. She sounds like she has interesting relationship with the truth.

Will the dog owner also be responsible when they are shot dead because the farmer tired to shoot a dog that was on a lead 3 feet away from their owner?

Unless there were witnesses, your account about what happened to your neighbour is pure supposition.

How will it continue to worry sheep if it’s on a secure lead or harness though? I don’t follow your logic at all.

Why on Earth would they want to? I'm pretty sure that most farmers have neither the time nor the inclination to run around shooting pet dogs - or humans - for no reason. If possible, avoid walking dogs through or near fields with livestock and if you really must then make sure she's on a very short lead and is calming walking to heel. You are far, far more likely to be attacked by farm animals than by a farmer. I'd actually guess that you're probably far more likely to be murdered by a stranger than shot by a stranger but I can't be bothered to look up the stats! This is not coming from someone who hates dogs and wants to see them shot, on the contrary I've had dogs all my life and would be absolutely devastated; I have even had one horrible adolescent get lose and try to 'make friends' with a very nervous looking calf, ignoring my demands that he come back and thinking that me running around chasing him was a super fun game. If a farmer had seen him and shot him, I would not have blamed the farmer. I wasn't even in the calf's field, I was on the opposite side of the adjoining field - that little bugger is still alive and to this day I don't let him off anywhere remotely near livestock fields, even though he is fully trained now (and old and arthritic).

There are some very sadistic people out there.

That’s what the farmer said in court as his excuse for how he came to be pointing his gun at a person. Whether it’s the truth is anyone’s guess. It certainly sounds better to say “the victim put himself between the dog and the gun” vs “I purposely pointed the gun at his head”.

But that's always true - any old random could shoot your dog when walking though woodland, or through your garden fence, or could leave poisoned treats lying around or snares or kidnap them and do horrible things... there's a multitude of ways a sadist could hurt your dog if they set their mind to it and there would be little way to avoid it short of making them a 'house dog' and never letting them out of your sight, which would be sadistic in itself. I would say livestock farmers will be pretty low on the list of people likely to be sadistic enough and animal-hating enough to randomly shoot pet dogs for fun.

I have too Angrymum growing up in rural Devon and it is so distressing and hideous. It is also the farmers livelihood that has been destroyed as well as being so upsetting for them.

I am an animal lover but would defend a farmers right to shoot a dog as a last resort. Obviously not when it was on a lead. However, I don't believe 100% anything written in any newspaper as, from experience, the stories are often at best slightly skewed and at worst full of inaccuracies and misleading.

Our dog is well trained and will stay next to us if we command her on walks, but we always put her on the lead near any livestock just in case. She is actually quite nervous around cows and sheep and tries to avoid them, but we wouldn't take any risk with her.

If the dog had gotten loose from it's collar and lead once then it isn't unrealistic for the farmer to think it was doing so again, ultimately it is the dog owners at fault.

There are some pretty sadistic MN'posters on here I would be worried about getting near any dogs , some serious joking about poison, I wouldn't put it past some of them .

Surely if your dog has a history of worrying sheep, the last place you take it for a walk is a field full of sheep. Whether it's on a lead or not. I'm with the farmers on this one - they have multiple animals to defend, not just one who should be on a lead anyway.

Because the particular dog that got shot had already got loose at that time and worried sheep, so it was shot because it looked like a repeat happening was a possibility. Your dog is on the lead and not worrying sheep, so you're safe. Stop being dramatic asking if a farmer is going to come round your house and shoot your dog because it looks like a similar dog that worries sheep. You're upsetting yourself over nothing.

Farmers should totally have the right to shoot dogs worrying sheep. Not as a "last resort" they haven't got to try other methods like training it or catching it and leashing it. That's the owners job. If the farmer gets to it first it's shot. To protect his livestock.

Saying if dog's off lead around sheep it'll be shot isn't threat, it's information for those who don't know. The grumpiness isn't man on power trip with gun. It's man repeatedly losing livelihood due to idiots, pissed off and sounding it, warning anyone he meets of potential consequences.

How would you like it if someone took all your wages that you'd worked for all year and you still had all your bills to pay? That's what happens when a sheep farmer has no lambs to sell because they got aborted and less ewes to breed from next time because some got injured and needed PTS.

Don’t understand the compulsion for dog owners to walk dogs through fields that contain sheep. I have a lab, he wouldn’t hurt the sheep, but he would want to play with them, no doubt scaring the living daylights out of them. So I don’t take him where there may be sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, rabbits, cats or anything else he will think may want to engage.

Farmers aren’t bothered about their livestock, they’re worried about losing money. Can’t believe the farmer got let off for shooting a human in the head - but it doesn’t surprise me they don’t have a conscience.