A County Waterford sheep farmer has been left devastated by another dog attack on his sheep flock.
Pat Keating farms on the land around the Mahon Falls in the Comeragh Mountains and has become increasingly frustrated by the actions of dog owners visiting the area.
The latest incident occurred yesterday (Saturday) which resulted in two sheep being seriously injured.
One of the injured sheep on the Comeragh Mountains.
"This is a constant issue we have to deal with. Every morning we check our flock on the mountain and are constantly worried of what we will find when we go out to check them," he told WLR News.
"This is happening because of visitors coming to our beautiful mountains who are not controlling their dogs and letting them run wild. The owners never take responsibility for the actions of their dogs. We are sick of telling people to control their dogs every day when we are out the mountain trying to gather and tend to the sheep. These attacks lead to sheep having to be put down, sheep losing their lambs and the general well-being of the sheep being harmed."
Pat says such incidents are "severely impacting every aspect of our flock and farm".
"Despite putting up numerous signs on our land on the mountain saying 'No dogs' or signs asking people to control their dogs, people are just ignoring the signs or often the signs will be pulled down and thrown somewhere," he explained.
"We are coming into lambing season shortly so the sheep are heavily pregnant and any bit of worrying from dogs could have a devastating impact on the sheep."
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