The results will inform further education and guidance.
Dog owners are being urged to contribute to a new survey on sheep worrying.
The survey forms part of ongoing work by the National Sheep Association (NSA) to highlight this serious and highly distressing problem for both sheep and farmers.
NSA has been gathering data on sheep worrying for more than 13 years, and continues to raise awareness of these incidents through education, guidance and cooperation.
Results from this year’s survey will be shared with interested parties in the spring, including the national press, to highlight the issue.
NSA chief executive Phil Stocker comments: “Sheep farmers across the UK nations are regularly faced with the dreadful consequences of sheep worrying by dogs. Attacks not only compromise animal welfare but also cause great stress, anxiety and financial loss to farmers themselves.
“NSA urges dog owners to complete this year’s survey and encourages organisations to share it amongst their networks. All contributions help to create a more accurate representation of the matter, critical for NSA when working towards increased understanding of the problem, whether that be amongst the dog owning population, farmers or those responsible for legislating on the issue.”
The survey is available here will remain open until Monday, 9 March.
Image (C) Wayne Evans/Shutterstock.
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