Langley Advance

Friday, December 08, 2006 09:02 AM

Urban/rural clash: Roaming dogs maul sheep

A sheep owner says some recent arrivals to rural Langley aren't controlling their dogs.

by Matthew Claxton

Despite the long history of dogs herding sheep, canines and livestock don't always co-exist easily in rural Langley.

Aldergrove farmer Frances Steinfeld knows from personal experience. There have been three dog attacks in three years in her neighbourhood.

The latest, in mid-November, left her with three injured sheep, and a fourth which died.

Steinfeld drove into her yard to find the gates smashed open and three strange dogs in her garden.

"The dogs don't know the difference between somebody throwing a tennis ball and something woolly that runs," she said.

Her three surviving sheep are currently recovering, after receiving gashes to legs, abdomens, and necks. She has spent $400 in vet bills, as well as the costs of disposing of the dead ewe.

The cost is small compared to the $1,700 in veterinary costs she racked up after the last dog attack.

Steinfeld believes it was three large dogs, all roaming free in her neighbourhood, which did the damage this November.

Her own dogs don't attack sheep, and keep away neighbourhood coyotes. But she believes that, when they saw the large dogs responsible for the recent attack, her pets decided that discretion was the better part of valour.

The problem isn't dogs owned by other small farmers in the neighbourhood, Steinfeld said.

Instead, she believes, it is mostly caused by dogs owned by people who have moved from the city or densely suburban areas to the country.

Many people let out their dogs at night, thinking nothing bad will happen. If the dog comes home with blood on its muzzle, they assume it's hunted down a rabbit, Steinfeld said.

However, some of those dogs are hunting livestock.

There is about one attack on livestock by dogs every month in the Township, said Sean Baker, manager of the Langley Animal Shelter.

"Anywhere from a quarter to half of the cases kind of go unsolved," said Baker.

It's hard, after the fact, to fix responsibility for an attack on a specific dog. Unless the farm owner can catch the dog or recognizes it, it may be impossible to find it again.

"Even if our response time is 15 minutes, the dog is probably long gone," Baker said.

Dog attacks can be serious. Six months ago a single mastiff savaged 13 sheep in one attack. All the sheep died or had to be put down.

If a dog does attack livestock, it can be seized by the Langley Animal Protection Society, which can make a court application to have it destroyed, Baker said. Most owners allow their dogs to be put down without going to court, he noted. The mastiff responsible for killing 13 sheep was destroyed.

Steinfeld's immediate neighbours have lost an ostrich and a llama to dog attacks in recent years.

She thinks people need to exercise their dogs during the day and control them at night.

Too many people just leave their dogs cooped up in small enclosures, from which the animals escape, or let them roam free, she said.

"I would think it's bone laziness of the fat suburbanites," said Steinfeld.

Currently, Steinfeld doesn't think the dogs responsible for the most recent attacks will be found, although animal control workers from the Langley Animal Protection Society have searched for them.

The dogs may have belonged to out-of-town visitors, Steinfeld said, as they haven't been seen around her yard since then.

She isn't sure what more she could do to keep dogs out of her yard. They can crawl in through the gaps under her fence where a creek traverses her property.

Baker said dog owners have to keep their animals contained. Farmers have a responsibility to keep their stock contained, but shouldn't have to worry about dogs entering their farms.

published on 12/08/2006