Sheep Worrying Incident in Shipston on Stour

After searching for one individual who had left the scene, they were located by officers and immediately taken to Stratford Police station. This individual was interviewed and admitted committing an offence of livestock worrying. One other individual will be interviewed for the same offence in the coming days.

The two dogs in question will now be subject to a behavioural assessment conducted by a Warwickshire Police Dog Legislation Officer, their suitability to remain as household companions will be scrutinised along with the owner’s capabilities.

The owner of the sheep has spent their evening with vets working hard to preserve the life of their animals. Several sheep were seriously injured during the attack, a significant financial loss will be incurred as a result of the incident.

Why? All because the dogs were off the lead.

We regularly highlight the importance of having dogs on leads and the consequences of allowing them to wander free in the countryside near to livestock. Today’s incident is a prime example of how things go so wrong so quickly. You are responsible for your dog. It’s as simple as that.

The word “worrying” often doesn’t do justice to the seriousness of this type of incident which results in misery for all people and animals involved.

This incident, whilst horrific, was prevented from being significantly worse by the quick thinking and brave members of the local community, who managed to restrain the dogs and we are thankful for your action.

If you witnessed this incident and have not been spoken to by our team, please do get in touch re investigation ref 23/19026/21.