Dogs kill more than 30 lambs in attack in Leominster Published duration 4 September 2016

image caption Thomas Hadley said 11 lambs were still missing and 33 have been killed

A young farmer has spoken of his shock after most of his flock of 56 lambs were killed by two dogs.

Thomas Hadley was telephoned on Friday to say two dogs were attacking his sheep in Risbury, Leominster.

Mr Hadley, 23, said when he arrived the field was "scattered" with dead and injured lambs and the dogs were still attacking other sheep.

Police sent armed officers and seized the dogs. A 64-year-old man has been arrested and bailed.

The man, from Leominster, has been bailed until October on suspicion of allowing a dog to be out of control and allowing a dog to kill or maim livestock. A police spokesman said the firearms officers were deployed as a "matter of precaution".

'Can't trust any dog'

Mr Hadley said 33 of the lambs, who were born in April, died from their injuries or shock or had to be destroyed.

"I haven't slept at all," he said. "We are still missing 11 lambs and these could be fatally injured lying somewhere and we have searched a two-mile radius of this place and haven't found them."

Mr Hadley, who also works as an sheep shearer and livestock agent, has been breeding sheep for three years and said the incident had cost at least £10,000.

"I have lost the breed lines and will have to start from scratch," he said.

"People don't realise that their dogs can do this," he said. "You can't trust any dog around livestock."