SHEEP KILLED BY DOGS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 212, 7 September 1945, Page 4

SHEEP KILLED BY DOGS

RATANA FARMERS PROTEST

Specific details of cases where dogs from Ratana Pa had worried sheep in that district were given at the monthly meeting of the Rangitikei County Council yesterday when further correspondence on the subject was received. The data collected will be forwarded to Mr. E. B. Gordon, M.P. for Rangitikei, with a request that he hand it on to the Native Minister (Mr. Tirikatene). “When the late Mr. T. W. Ratana was in charge of the pa we reported the dog nuisance to him on several occasions,” stated a settler in a letter to the council. “Other farmers have had the same experience, so we have had to rely on our own efforts to stop the trouble.” Cr. G. L. Marshall reported that since January, 22 sheep had been killed, apart from others injured by dogs. Another settler stated that since 1938, 78 sheep had been lost near Ratana as the result of attacks by dogs from the pa. The loss experienced by one farmer averaged 14 per year in 10 years, the heaviest being nine ewes and 23 lambs in July and September, 1944. “This year I have shot 11 dogs worrying sheep in daylight,” a farmer stated. “As a result of keeping a watch I have lost no sheep this year.”