3 Oct 2024
Officials hope work being led by academics in Liverpool and backed by both clinicians and police chiefs will make it easier to track down the owners of dogs who attack livestock.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Image: Anna Averianova / Adobe Stock
Farm vets are being urged to support a new project that aims to make it easier to trace the dogs responsible for attacks on livestock.
Early evidence kits, intended to enable the collection of canine DNA, are being trialled in 10 police force areas of England and Wales.
The technology has been developed by researchers at the Liverpool John Moores University, with support from clinicians at both IVC Evidensia and Synergy Farm Health.
Emily Gascoigne, Synergy’s central region veterinary lead and an RCVS and European specialist in sheep health, described the project as a potential “game changer” for producers faced by the aftermath of attacks.
She said: “There are a lot of farmers who feel really quite helpless in this situation.”
Meanwhile, IVC group head of animal welfare David Martin said the project was “an exciting step forward” in both collecting and analysing DNA.
He added: “It offers police and farmers a means to hold irresponsible dog owners culpable for the damage and losses caused by their pets.”
Although livestock attacks are thought to be on the rise, including warnings that the problem is becoming the “norm” for some farmers, efforts to trace the owners of offending dogs are hampered by the short time in which DNA can be collected either from a carcase or in the open air.
Project leader Nick Dawnay said: “Our rural crime police can’t always attend scenes in a timely manner, so quite often no forensic sample is collected from the injured or deceased livestock.”
Following initial testing in Wales, the kits are now set to be distributed to police officers, and farmers in the police force areas of Cheshire, Cumbria, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Dyfed Powys, Gwent, Kent, Northumbria, North Wales and North Yorkshire in the latest phase of the project.
Officials hope that work will help to identify best practice for both the collection and analysis of canine DNA and the appropriate training for kit users.
Dr Martin said: “As a profession we can support this research by ensuring samples are taken from as many cases within the relevant force areas as possible so that the team at John Moores gets sufficient material to be able to complete this project as soon as possible.
“All IVC Evidensia farm practices in the participating regions are being encouraged to use the kits and we want to ensure all farm practices in those regions know about this important project.”
The work, which was also highlighted in presentations to the Sheep Veterinary Society’s recent conference in Morpeth, is taking place at a time of increasing calls by both veterinary and farming groups for action to address the problem.
Miss Gascoigne, whose own Dorset flock has been affected by an attack, is among the voices within the veterinary and farming communities who say stronger punishments are needed for the owners of dogs responsible for attacks.
It is estimated that livestock attacks cost the farming industry around £2.4 million last year alone and NFU Mutual rural affairs specialist Hannah Binns said they can have an impact well beyond the financial loss.
She said: “Not only do these attacks cause unnecessary suffering to livestock but can traumatise farmers and their families as they deal with the aftermath.”
Responding to recent written questions on the issue, farming minister Daniel Zeichner said Defra was currently “considering the most effective ways” of protecting livestock and would set out its proposals “in due course”.
