A sheep was attacked on land which is part of Castle Farm Paddocks, which runs adjacent to the Castle Farm Recreation Ground. Photo from Google Maps.

A sheep owner in Kenilworth has been left shocked and devastated after one of her sheep had to be put down following a dog attack.

Alison Hughes, who owns the land which is part of Castle Farm Paddocks, arrived on Monday morning to find her flock of sheep acting strange and was horrified to find that one of her older ewes had been attacked.

“The sheep was attacked from behind and lost most of the muscle off her right hind leg and hip area. You could see the bone but she was alive and walking,” said Alison.

A sheep was attacked on land which is part of Castle Farm Paddocks, which runs adjacent to the Castle Farm Recreation Ground. Photo from Google Maps.

“It’s worrying because there are ewes and sheep in there already and the dog attacked this elderly one which couldn’t run very fast as she was about 12 years old. We had to call the vet out and she had to be put down. It was really distressing to see her in such much pain.

“These sheep are like pets to us and they all have names. We had the ewe for many years and it is very distressing that her life had to end in such an horrific way due entirely to an irresponsible dog owner, who had no control over their animal.

“The worrying thing is that once a dog has attacked like this it is highly likely it will do it again and there is nothing to stop it attacking another sheep, other animals, a dog or worse, a child.

“The owner would be in no doubt that their dog had attacked or killed something, as there would have be a lot of blood on the dog’s mouth area. The fact that someone knew what happened and left a defenceless animal in that amount of pain, still alive and not say anything at all is disgusting. This should never have happened.”

The land where the attack happened is adjacent to the Castle Farm Recreation Ground and Alison said that dogs trespassing on her land is not uncommon.

She said: “We have had the land for 14 years and sheep on the land since we first purchased it. The field is immediately adjacent to the Castle Farm Recreation Ground where people regularly let dogs off leads. The dog would have had to have got through the fence owned by Warwick District Council and over our own fencing.

“We have had two other incidents over the last couple of months where dogs have come through into the field. We have had to chase after them to get them off our land as they were chasing our animals.

“Warwick District Council have now contacted me since the incident to say that they were waiting for contractors to continue with replacing their old, damaged fencing and that they would contact them to complete the job as soon as possible.”

PC Scott McKeown from the Warwickshire Police Incident Progression Team is reminding people of the importance of keeping their dogs under control when around farm animals.

He said: “It is a criminal offence to allow a dog to worry or attack livestock; this includes chasing. Please keep you dog on a lead if you are around livestock."