Urgent intervention needed to address escalating number of dog attacks on livestock

Following a number of dog attacks on sheep recently, IFA National Sheep Chair Adrian Gallagher is again highlighting the urgent need for intervention to address the escalating issue of dog attacks on livestock.

The attacks that occurred in Roscommon, Sligo and Tipperary resulted in significant losses for the effected farmers involved. He said these are not isolated incidents but part of a concerning trend that continues to devastate sheep farmers nationwide.

IFA has continuously called for a centralised data base for all dogs correlating licensing and microchipping to identify the owner of the dog and to increase the number of dog wardens on the ground but this hasn’t happened.

He said the lack of robust enforcement of existing laws continues to allow dogs to run riot on farms across the country.