FARMERS who have been left devastated after dogs terrorised their sheep have backed The Northern Echo’s Lead the Way campaign calling for stricter laws around livestock worrying.

Jonathan Metcalf, who has 280 ewes that he farms around Eggleston, has been farming since he was 16 but said the age-old issue was getting worse every year.

The 52-year-old, of Ingleton, said: “I have noticed the impact of sheep worrying more in recent years. We had sheep up at Cotherstone that were being attacked by a Patterdale terrier.

“The owner actually came to me and alerted me to it and we had to have a sheep and a lamb put down. They said somebody else had let their dog out so they compensated me for the loss.

“But then through the Summer last year, we had a series of sheep injured by dog bites and that September there was an Akita dog from a nearby caravan park that worried the sheep.

“I knew the owner and he never came to me but about a fortnight later, this dog got out of the caravan late at night and spent the whole night in amongst our sheep.”

Mr Metcalf was horrified to discover the destruction the next day as five ewes had been killed while several more had been injured and another two so severely that they had to be put down.

“Again the owner never told me about it but he took the dog away and gave it to somebody else,” he said. “By this point I had involved the police and he got a caution for the first attack but as we suspected his best friend had recovered the dog from the second one, there were no witnesses and we could not prosecute.”

The father-of-two said the police did all they could but the current laws and guidelines were not strong enough to ensure the owner was brought to justice for the destruction his dog caused.

He welcomed the campaign’s call for a law change to make it compulsory for dogs to be on leads near livestock and make owners aware of their responsibilities.

“It was frustrating for me and the police as well because they did everything they possibly could. They interviewed several people but the law as it stands is not strong enough,” he said.

Mr Metcalf said the police were only able to get a restraining order against the dog so it could not go onto his farm but again said he did not think this went far enough.

He said: “It had a massive effect on my livelihood. We lost eight sheep and the 16 lambs from them that we would have been able to sell this year.”

He added: “When you have sheep killed it’s horrible and it didn’t just kill them by going for the throat. It chased them into the gutter.

“The whole flock was traumatised for months and I could not get them into the sheep pens.”

Mr Metcalf said he eventually rang the dog owner and challenged him at which point he did apologise and offer to compensate him but changed his mind when he realised the bill would be more than £3,000.

He said: “The owner should be responsible for the dog. This one blamed other people for letting his dog out.

“I think it should be law that dogs should be on leads.”

Another farmer, Joanne Bainbridge, lost several of her sheep in 2010 following an unknown dog attack at her Cockfield farm. The dog was never identified.

She said: “I do agree more should be done because it’s so distressing for both the livestock owner and the animals, especially at this time of year when they still have young – if they get mis-mothered because of an attack then the sheep won’t take their babies back.

“We had a bad attack in 2010 on Cockfield Fell. A dog worried the sheep and bit all the bottom jaw away from one of them and it was still alive. I took photographs and put posters up on the main posts and entrances to the fell and I think that hit home quite hard because there hasn’t been any more incidents up there and no if anyone sees a dog, they do tend to report it.

“When people say worrying it’s obviously not the same as the human kind, it’s totally different and so devastating.

“It can happen and unfortunately it’s happening more and more. We lost a lot of sheep in that 2010 incident and then two or three since.”

Backing the Northern Echo’s Lead the Way campaign, Ms Bainbridge said: “I think it’s time people took responsibility for their actions and their animals’ actions.

“It can be soul destroying especially when it happens through lambing time. We have had a really bad year this year with the weather – it’s been horrendous for the sheep so the last thing they need is being attacked by dogs.”

She added: “For every sheep that dies it’s also like £100 being knocked off your wages and you cannot get that animal back or put in extra hours to make more money.”