A horse has been badly injured and 15 sheep killed in dog attacks in a small area of Lancashire. Equestrians in the Rivington area are now desperately trying to raise awareness of the possibly fatal consequences of not keeping dogs on leads around animals.
A farmer has already shot one dog – having first done his best to stop it attacking his sheep – but the incidents have continued. Her friend’s horse 27-year-old Jack* was found lying on top of the collapsed fence to his field four weeks ago. “We got a phone call to say he was lying half in, half out of the field and we thought he must have had a heart attack so we went hurtling up there,” Sharon said.
“He’d crashed through it – we don’t know whether he ran through the fence to get away, or slipped into it, but the farmer later said he’d seen a dog chasing the horses.
“We got him up and he’d been lying on his leg, which is probably a good thing as he’d cut an artery – it wasn’t nice.” The vet was called and Jack was stitched and has since been on box rest. “The vet says he will be ok but it’s going to be a long road,” said Sharon.