A sheep farmer in West Waterford has had almost half his flock destroyed after they were attacked and killed by dogs.
Eithan Harty, from Ballinamult, lost 17 of his sheep to the assault, and had to put down another three of his animals.
He made the grim discovery on Sunday morning when checking on the animals. Speaking on Deise Today on WLR, Eithan said another six sheep are wounded with broken legs and cuts. Some of these may also have to be put down.
"One of them couldn't stand up and I didn't take much notice. I went around the corner then and there was a massacre ," said Harty who has the sheep in a field in Aglish. "I walked the place and it turns out I had 17 of them killed in the field - I had to shoot three more."
"I broke down," said the heartbroken farmer,w ho had to clean up and dispose of the bodies. "I've put down two days of hell [after this]."
One of Eithan's sheep which were viciously attacked
Some of the ewes were a pedigree breed which had only been purchased this year. "I am at a loss of €250 a ewe because all the ewes were in lamb," he said, adding that the total cost is almost €5,000.
The attack has been reported to gardaí who are investigating.
He told presenter Damien Tiernan that the attacks are an example of the "damage that dogs can cause" where people don't keep their dogs on leads and when they don't lock them up at night.
Some of the sheep, who were not insured, had half their faces eaten off. Eithan fears the owners of the dogs may never be caught: "There's no justice for it. People can't be leaving their dogs loose."
You can listen back to Eithan's full interview with Damien Tiernan below:
And you can listen back to both parts of today's show here, where Minister Mary Butler discussed illness in her family and responded to criticisms of the decision to end respite and palliative services in Carrick-on-Suir.
