As part of the Lead The Way campaign to prevent dog attacks on livestock, Northern Farmer editor Andrew Hitchon spoke to Inspector Jon Grainge, of North Yorkshire Police

“THIS is a problem that wouldn’t exist if people put dogs on leads and made sure they are not escaping from backyards.”

The Northern Echo: VIGILANCE: Inspector Jon Grainge, of North Yorkshire Police's Rural Taskforce

Inspector Jon Grainge, pictured above, who heads the rural taskforce for North Yorkshire Police, is keen to get the message across about how much of an impact dog attacks on livestock have on the communities he and his officers serve.

He believes the majority of dog owners are responsible, but could sometimes be “naive and careless”. It is important to get across to them “the upset, the financial and emotional damage” that could be caused, he says.

An incident might not just be about a dog chasing a few sheep – a dog might kill a sheep, or a pregnant ewe might lose lambs she was carrying.

Insp Grainge says a dog’s natural instinct is to chase livestock. “A really simple thing is to keep your dog on a lead, the other issue is dogs escaping from the owner’s own property,” he says.

“Make sure that the place where you leave your dog is secure.”

The law at present stipulates dogs must be “under close control”.

The Northern Echo:

The Lead The Way campaign launched today by The Northern Echo and sister publications The Northern Farmer and Darlington & Stockton Times is calling for the legislation to be changed so that dogs must be on a lead around livestock.

Insp Grainge says: “I think really we owe it to ourselves as responsible dog owners to ensure that ‘under control’ really is under control.”

The North Yorkshire force played a key role in bringing forward a national police working group report on dog attacks on livestock earlier this year, when chief constable Dave Jones called for “the powers to tackle this problem effectively” and for an overhaul of the rules on livestock worrying.

Insp Grainge says the working group had made a number of good recommendations for changes to legislation, and these are being backed by Take The Lead.

He highlights the report’s calls for a clarification of the legal definition of livestock; a clearer definition of what “under control” means; the ability to enter a property and seize a dog suspected of carrying out an attack; and the possible diversion of public footpaths at certain times of year, such as lambing time, which he thinks would have an instant impact on public awareness.

SOCIAL media has played a big part in bringing the issue to the fore, with farmers and farmers’ organisations sharing pictures and appeals for information.

Insp Grainge says he generally supports the use of social media to highlight the impact of dog attacks because of its value in raising awareness. A powerful example of this was when video footage of dogs killing a pregnant ewe in North Yorkshire was put online – though he would prefer it to be done through the police as part of an appeal for information. He says officers in North Wales regularly put “gruesome” images on social media in order get the message across to the public there.

Although more and more appeals are being shared on sites like Facebook and Twitter, Insp Grainge says he does not think the actual number of incidents is rising.

Figures produced for the police working group show there were 329 recorded incidents of livestock worrying over three years in North Yorkshire, and the figures had been “quite steady” for each year.

But he thinks dog attacks may have been under-reported – a “generic problem” with crime in the rural community.

Insp Grainge is urging farmers to report all incidents to the police as soon as they can, saying this allows officers to start making inquiries in the area and to have a more accurate picture of what’s happening.

The latter point is vital to how police resources are deployed, he says. “If you are not telling us what’s happening, and people in urban centres are telling about their problems, where are police going to put their resources?” he adds. “It all boils down to having that true picture of what’s happening in rural communities.”