POLICE have issued a warning to dog owners, reminding them they are criminally responsible if their pets worry sheep. The warning comes after a spate of attacks on sheep in Clearbrook near Yelverton, Yelverton Golf Club and in a field between Cox Tor Hill and Barn Hill, near Moortown. Police said the sheep are receiving ?horrific? facial injuries and are dying as a result of infection and starvation ? unless the farmer finds them immediately. Neighbourhood beat sergeant Bob Hughes from Tavistock Police Station said the facial injuries were quite unusual as most dogs attack sheeps? throats or hind legs. He said: ?I am urging dog owners to act responsibly by keeping their animals under control and am reminding them they are criminally liable if their dogs worry sheep, and civilly liable for vet bills and loss of stock. ?This irresponsible behaviour is causing a great deal of distress to farms who are already finding the falling price of stock during the recent Foot and Mouth troubles hard to bear.? The attacks in Yelverton were reported on Wednesday, September 26 by a Yelverton farmer who found two of his sheep had been killed by dogs in the space of a few days. These sheep had received facial injuries. The most recent attack was on Sunday, September 30 when a farmer found four of his sheep had been killed in a field near Moortown. These sheep had been attacked on their throats and hind legs. Section nine of the Animals Acts 1971 allows the killing or injuring of dogs which are worrying livestock, in certain circumstances such as: l The dog was worrying or about to worry the livestock and there were no other means of preventing the worrying. l The dog had been worrying livestock, had not left the vicinity, was not under the control of any person and there was no practicable way of ascertaining to whom it belonged.