KILLING OF SHEEP

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 103, 28 October 1939, Page 13

KILLING OF SHEEP

WEST COAST MYSTERY

SINGLE WOUND IN HEAD

Some weeks ago it was reported that two farmers in the Arahura Valley had suffered heavy losses of sheep as the result of an attack presumably by a killer type, of dog, states a Greymouth correspondent. The trouble still pre-, vails, mystifying farmers in .the district. Last week Mr. H. Harris, whose farm is situated at the head of the Arahura Valley, lost several sheep in this way. He has been the heavier loser of the two farmers whose flocks have been attacked. Since May, ten valuable ewes belonging to him have been killed. A curious feature of the case is that-the sheep have all.been killed in the same, way by a wound through the neck behind the ear, and, apart from this, the sheep show no signs of injury. At first it was thought that the sheep were being shot with a pea rifle, but apart from the fact that.neither the location of the wound nor that it was invariably in the same place supported this theory,- police investigations have proved definitely that the wounds could not have been made by a bullet. The nature of the wounds shows that the sheep have beeri killed by a. strong-jawed animal, almost certainly a dog of trie killer type, as distinct, from the. worrying type, which, usually knocks sheep about a great deal either before or after killing them. In this case, the sheep have not all been dead when discovered, and it has *beeri possible to save the lives of some of therri. So far, all efforts such as the setting .of traps and keeping watch to catch the '. animal responsible have failed. Trie marauder is obviously, a cunning and silent worker, while the rough nature of the country makes detection difficult.