Last week, two pet dogs — one a house pet for six years — wandered on to a Perrysville farm off Ohio 95 and attacked a flock of 27 sheep.
Only seven sheep were still standing at the end.
“Country folks like to let their animals run lose. They say that’s why the live out there, but you just can’t do that,” Richland County Dog Warden Dave Jordan said. “You need to know where your dog is at all times.”
Two weeks ago, Mary Ann and Tom Bowers had owned a small hobby farm where they kept 27 Shetland and Old English Southdown babydoll sheep safely penned in an open pasture. Mary Ann used the sheep wool to spin her own yarn, which she sold for a side income.
Now, everything has changed, she said.
Just after dawn on Nov. 19, the drawl of the Bowers’ pet Basset Hound, Beckett, alerted them to trouble in their field. They watched in horror as a pit bull and a black Labrador decimated their flock.
“They weren’t stopping,” Mary Ann said through tears. “They picked them off one by one.”
Three sheep died outright in the attack, another four had to be put down because of injuries, Mary Ann said. Thirteen sheep remain severely injured and under near-constant care.
By the time Tom was able to put the dogs down, only seven of the sheep remained unharmed. Per state law, homeowners have the right to shoot any animal attacking their livestock or posing a threat to their well being, Jordan said.
“They all have names; they all have personalities,” Mary Ann said of the sheep. “This has been really traumatic. Even the ones unscathed are not themselves.
"The whole family unit is torn apart.”
Animal instinct
Jordan believes a natural wolf-like instinct turned the dogs into killers that morning.
When two or more dogs get together, they sometimes form a pack mentality where they become more aggressive than normal, Jordan explained. The feeling can even overcome dogs who have never before shown such aggression, he said.
Another recent case in Shelby involved two Siberian huskies that killed eight chickens, Jordan said. The breed of dog doesn’t matter, he said.
“Most dogs see it as playtime, unlike a coyote, which only kills as much as it can eat,” Jordan said. “It’s their natural instincts, so they do things typically not in their character.”
That seemed the be the case with one of the dogs in particular, the black lab.
The owner said the dog had lived in the house with him and his three children for six years, but never shown aggression like this. He had only let the dog out to use the restroom that morning.
He met the Bowers on their farm to apologize for the tragedy, Mary Ann said.
“He was a stand-up kind of guy,” Mary Ann said. “I don’t blame the owners. It was a perfect storm of bad things, but they did not contain the dogs the way they should have.”
Neighbors said the pit bull was never confined.
Both dog owners are financially responsible for the damage to the flock and for ongoing medical bills, according to Ohio law. Jordan estimated that costs may be around $6,000 collectively.
“It’s the law,” Jordan said. “You have to keep dogs confined on the property at all times, or under control.”
Trying to heal
Even 11 days after the attack, Mary Ann said she’s not sure all 13 of the wounded sheep will survive. Several of them are in a critical state, having been bitten in the throat, back of neck and rear end areas.
Veterinarians worked on the animals for two days. Then Mary Ann took over their care, giving them daily penicillin shots, B12 supplements as an appetite stimulant and coating their wounds with antiseptic twice a day.
“It took sun up to sun down to stitch them back together, and we’re still not certain if some are going to make it,” Mary Ann said. “It was a massacre.”
Now, Mary Ann said all that is left to do is wait and to try to help the remaining sheep feel safe again.
The sheep had been with her on the farm for seven years. Some she had raised from birth. She said they used to follow her around eating animal cookies out of the palm of her hand, but now flee from her.
The day after the attack, she said a squirrel moved in the woods near the barn and two guard llamas let out a frantic warning, gathering the sheep behind them for protection.
“It’s changed the farm for sure,” Mary Ann said.
Mary Ann said she hopes other dog owners use her tragedy as a reminder of why they can’t let their pets just roam free.
“Just because a dog is a family pet does not mean that given the right set of circumstances things won’t go horribly wrong,” Mary Ann said.
“Any dog’s instincts can kick in and it’s not what you see when they’re laying at your feet.”
(Mansfield News Journal - Nov 29, 2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment