Dog owners are being urged to keep their pets under control following the mauling of sheep in Dorset and Somerset over the last week.

The corpses of two savaged sheep were found at Hod Hill near Stourpaine on Saturday and a pet sheep had to be put down after an attack in Henstridge on Monday morning.

Hod Hill volunteer warden Jerry Broadway said there have been at least five incidents of dogs attacking sheep at the site over the last three months.

"The latest mauling was one of the worst ever. Two badly mauled sheep were found stuffed in a horse trough. I have no idea how they got there - it could be that the dog owner was trying to hide them," Mr Broadway said.

"The problem is that you always get people who won't keep their dog on a lead and say they can't imagine that their dog would attack a sheep. They end up saying exactly the same thing after their dog has attacked a sheep."

The latest attack at Hod Hill has been reported to the police and a stray dog was found roaming the site on Tuesday morning.

Mr Broadway explained that grazing is essential for the management of the site as habitat for flowers and wildlife. He said dog walkers are welcome as long as their pets are on a lead.

A sign urging dog owners to use leads was put up last month and ripped down less than two weeks later.

"I don't know how we are supposed to educate these people," Mr Broadway added.

"We don't have a problem with dog walkers. It is just that the ignorance of a tiny minority is letting everyone else down."

Ann Carslaw, who has a ten-acre holding in Henstridge, found one of her pet sheep with terrible injuries at 10am on Monday morning. The ewe was badly mauled and had to be put down.

"The sheep was still alive when I got there but it had chunks bitten out of it," she said.

"The owner of the dog that did this must know about it because it would have been covered in blood."

Police have warned that sheep-worrying is a criminal offence and landowners can legally shoot an animal that is causing distress to livestock. The Defra Countryside Code also states that dogs should be kept on a short lead to prevent them from scaring farm animals and wildlife.

Mathew Manning

mmanning@bvmedia.co.uk