KILLING OF SHEEP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 12

KILLING OF SHEEP

WEST COAST MYSTERY

SINGLE WOUND IN HEAD NO .SIGN OF MARAUDER [by telegraph OWN correspondent] GEEYMOUTH, Friday* 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. The trouble still prevails, mystifying farmers in the district. Last week Mr. H. Harris, whose farnF 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 pro% T ed definitely that the wounds could not have been made by a bullet. The nature of the wounds shows that the sheep have been killed by a strongjawed animal, almost certainly a dog of the 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 been possible to save the lives of some of them. So far, all efforts such as the setting of traps and keeping watch to catch the animal responsible have failed. The marauder is obviously a cunning and silent worker, while the rough nature of the country makes detection difficult.