The angry owner of two pet sheep which were seriously injured in an attack by dogs this morning has called on Kentlyn residents to keep their pets restrained.
A distraught Julieanne Horsman said attacks by dogs were far too common in Kentlyn and pet owners needed to show more responsibility.
Ms Horsman, a former Channel Nine reporter, said she was woken up by neighbours just after 8am this morning.
She rushed out to the back of the Georges River Road property to find two of her three pet sheep being mauled by two dogs, possibly a Rottweiler and a cross kelpie.
“The door bell rang and it was our neighbours saying, your sheep are being attacked,’’ Ms Horsman told the Voice.
“So I grabbed a broken broom and my brother James grabbed a metal pole and we ran up the back.
“We got in between the dogs and the sheep.
“All the neighbours had come over by then. One of them actually filmed the attack.
“The two sheep, Barbara and Wool Smith, had been backed into a corner by the dogs, but luckily Rosie, our other sheep, somehow escaped uninjured,’’ Ms Horsman said.
Once the dogs were separated Ms Horsman and some neighbours guarded the sheep while her brother and his girlfriend called the pound, and they came and took the microchipped dogs away.
“I am distraught by what’s happened,’’ Ms Horsman said.
“I am really worried the two sheep which were attacked are going to die.
“The vet said that they are likely to survive, but as you can see they’ve got pretty deep wounds in there.
“Both their ears have been partially severed.
“I am furious – there are a lot of irresponsible dog owners in Kentlyn, and it’s just not good enough.
“There’s a school just a few hundred metres up the road and imagine if these dogs attacked a child.
“These sheep are my pets and I love them as you would a dog or a cat, they have their little personalities and seeing them covered in blood and in pain and scared is absolutely heartbreaking,’’ Ms Horsman said.
Here in New Zealand the farmer has the right to shoot stray dogs on sight.