As the number of sheep being injured and killed by dogs across the country increases, a new community initiative is aiming to help protect the National Flock.
The launch of this new initiative took place at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park following a number of problems in this parish over the last year.
As well as representatives of Buriton Parish Council and the founder of SheepWatch UK, Terena Plowright, speakers at the launch included: National Farmers' Union County Chairman Jamie Butler, PC Jon Radcliffe (Hampshire Police), Hannah Park from the National Sheep Association and local sheep farmer George Atkinson
The event was covered by ITV Meridian News as well as the Petersfield Post and the BBC Countryfile programme is in contact with the organisers with a view to conducting some local filming for future transmission.
'No-one really knows how many sheep are injured or killed by dogs' said Terena Plowright in her introduction to the launch, 'it's so hard to get exact figures but reports are coming in nearly daily from across the country and we have had enough'.
'SheepWatch UK is already highlighting the problem and is coming up with some new ideas to try and bring farmers and dog walkers together to protect the Nation's flock', she added.
Buriton Parish Councillor, Doug Jones, drew attention to ways in which local communities can help bring about changes in people's behaviour and reduce dog attacks - with a Toolkit for Action likely to be available in due course.
'I am fed up with seeing injured or dead sheep,' said Andrew Bray, one of Buriton's farmers, 'it's horrendous for the animals and costly and emotionally upsetting for me and my family'. Andrew has had several attacks from dogs on his sheep in recent months and is now one of the founding group who are advising SheepWatch UK on a way forward. 'I need to be able to create a deterrent,' he explained, 'and fines may work better than threatening to shoot dogs. That could be a good way to go forward, linked to clear signs out in the fields. I'd also consider naming and shaming people via social media if I caught a dog amongst my sheep and had evidence of ownership,' he added. 'Many people on Facebook are already indicating lots of support for the SheepWatch idea.'
Also from Buriton, Hilary Myers attended the launch following the horrendous attacks on some of her animals at the beginning of April 2015: http://buriton.info/news/buriton_farms/happened_buriton
'We need to deal with this problem urgently,' said Terena. 'It is costing the farming community a huge sum of money and individual farmers are having to pick up the bill. We need to find out just how big this problem is so we can prove to the government if more needs to be done.'
'We don't have any funds yet, but we have the will to fight this. We have a temporary website page with a form for farmers to submit every dog attack whether it is chasing, biting or sheep being killed, it all adds up in financial terms. We will also be releasing some signs that people can use or copy and there's a Facebook page where people can comment or add pictures of the chaos. We will find a way to stop this!'
The temporary website for SheepWatch UK is: http://www.terena.co.uk/sheepwatch-uk.html
