A FARMER has urged residents to keep their dogs on leads near livestock after a lamb was killed and another left fighting for its life after being mauled.
A dog managed to make its way into the field where the sheep, owned by Wormingford’s Colletts Farm Dairy, were grazing in Bures on Sunday.
One young lamb was fatally wounded, whilst another suffered severe injuries.
Tim Gurton, who runs the farm with wife, Sophie, took to social media to vent his frustrations.
His post on the Colletts Farm Dairy Facebook page was shared hundreds of times and seen by more than 40,000 people.
Mr Gurdon posted a photo of the injured lamb, saying it showed the “reality of what a family pet can do if left uncontrolled”.
He said: “One lamb is badly injured but alive, probably because its mother faced up to the dog as best she could.
“Someone spotted what was happening and got hold of the dog. Another lamb, sadly, wasn’t so lucky.
“The lamb killed was from our son Henry’s pet sheep Betty.
“He was so pleased she’d had a ewe lamb and was going to keep her lamb to expand his flock by one. Now he can’t. Offers to pay don’t even cover it.”
Mr Gurton has urged dogwalkers to keep dogs on leads and under control when walking in the countryside.
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He said: “There might not be animals in the field you are in, but what about over the fence in the next one?
“You might think your dog won’t chase sheep but I don’t know that nor do the sheep, and in truth, nor do you. No excuses.”
The surviving lamb, which has been named Hope, is being hand fed due to her injuries.
Survivor - little lamb Hope was badly hurt after a dog attack but is now being nursed back to health by the owners of Colletts Farm Dairy
Earlier this year the Essex branch of the National Farmers Union warned of a rise of fatal sheep attacks in Essex.
In March, Vanessa Bice, 40, of Gravel Pit Lane, Brantham, and Warwick Foreman, 52, of Compton Road, Colchester, admitted multiple charges relating to two out of control dogs after 11 sheep were mauled on fields around Brantham.
Essex Police are investigating the Bures incident.
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