A HORRIFIC attack on a sheep on commonland at Clearbrook on Dartmoor has prompted a plea for dog owners to keep their pets under control as the summer holidays continue.

Farmer Neil Cole had to shoot one of his Dartmoor whiteface sheep after it was left to roam with its jaw literally hanging off for hours.

The animal had apparently been attacked by a dog and then left with horrific injuries in the heat.

It was spotted on Tuesday evening last week by a cyclist near Clearbrook, who alerted Dartmoor livestock protection officer Karla McKechnie.

She went out before it got dark and called out the farmer, who had to shoot the animal as it was too badly injured to save.

Both farmer and livestock protection officer have condemned the owners of the dog which carried out the attack, saying they must have been aware of it.

‘It makes me so sad,’ said Karla.

‘This sheep was never going to eat or drink again and must have suffered.

‘This chap was out cycling and saw this sheep leaning against a barn up at Clearbrook and called me.’

It took the farmer and two other men four hours to then find the sheep, because it had run into the moor to nurse its injuries.

‘This is the trouble, sometimes an animal is attacked badly they hide because they are so stressed and it becomes a problem trying to locate that animal,’ said Karla. ’This is animal suffering at its worst.

‘The dog owner would have been aware of it and we are lucky to find it because animals go under cover when they are in pain.’

She said the proper precaution was to keep dogs on leads near livestock on the commons.

‘If you have got no recalls or no control of your dog, don’t ever think there is going to be any livestock – there is always livestock on the moor.’

Farmer Neil Cole said: ‘This must have been an attack by a big dog, you can see by the teeth marks in the skin where the jaw is hanging off. The owner must have been there, because a dog like that would have carried on and killed it if it had not been pulled off.’

He added that it had taken four hours to locate the injured sheep,which belongs to his brother Matthew, currently on holiday.

‘It is getting to be a joke. It is horrendous seeing a sheep like that suffering.

‘It is worth £140 and then there is the cost of three guys searching for it for four hours to find it and put it out of its misery. In all this heat, it couldn’t eat or drink as its jaw was shredded. And this isn’t the first time this has happened.

‘I think anybody that is going to walk their dog on common land should have their dog on a lead. Other countries don’t allow a dog to wander around in the countryside, a dog is essentially a wolf.’

Dartmoor livestock protection officer Karla McKechnie will go out to an injured animal at any time. She can be contacted on 07873 587561.