SHEEP WORRIED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 103, 12 February 1936, Page 7

SHEEP WORRIED

TWENTY-FIVE ANIMALS DEAD. THROATS SAVAGELY TORN. (Special to the “Guardian.”) CHRISTCHURCH, February 11. After they had been savagely worried by several dogs, twenty-five sheep the property of tlie National Mortgage and Agency Co., Pyne, Gould Guinness Ltd., and a. private owner, were found yesterday morning in the paddocks in which they had been grazing, either dead or in such a condition that they had to be destroyed. The sheep were in three paddocks in Blenheim Road, Middleton, and when they were visited by tlie shepherds in the course of their rounds on Saturday they all appeared to be contented and gave no indication of having been worried. Oil Monday morning shortly before noon the shepherds discovered that the sheep had been molested by dogs. Fifteen dead were found in one paddock. In the other two paddocks were ten sheep in such a condition that it was found necessary to destroy them. All the sheep had had their throats gashed and torn, the injuries in many cases extending several inches down the neck. Apparently the sheep had been molested by dogs of more than tho average size. The sheep belonging to the stock firms have been in tho paddocks for over a week. The paddocks lie immediately behind the oil store of the Texas Oil Company. This is the first case of sheep-worry-ing which has occurred at .the Blenheim Road property, although stock belonging to the same companies have at times been troubled by the attentions of dogs at various other grazing places in and around the city.