More killings of sheep by dogs shows a delicate rural balance out of kilter

ON A DARK evening in November, Dan Lethbridge, a Cornish sheep farmer, came across a blood-soaked lamb. Disconcerted, he fetched his quad bike to survey his flock. Soon he had counted 18 carcasses. Some had missing ears and mutilated faces. Others were hanging limp from electric fences. They had clearly been attacked by a dog. There was another vicious canine slaughter in January, when Mr Lethbridge lost three ewes. Both culprits are still at large.

Attacks on sheep were rising before covid-19 struck because, according to NFU Mutual, a rural insurer, more dogs were left alone to rampage around the countryside. Lockdown, which has trapped people at home with their pets, should have mitigated that problem. Yet the cost of dog attacks on farm animals increased by a tenth in 2020 to £1.3m ($1.8m). Single episodes can have a big impact. In January, a farmer in Monmouthshire lost 50 pregnant ewes, each carrying at least two lambs, to a dog.