3 APRIL 1953, Page 18

Sheep-Worrying

It is likely that soon farmers will be able to deal with straying dogs as they should fiave been dealt with a long time ago. People who genuinely care for their dogs are at pains to see they don't run the countryside like strays. A few years ago, on a walk across two farms in the early morning, I came upon the result of a night's sheep-worrying and met the owner of the flock. He had lost ten ewes. They lay about in one small field as though the place had been stricken with plague. They were ripped and torn, and their wool was in tufts across the whole field. The remainder of the flock had been driven through the hedge, and stood terror-stricken in the side of a wood. I never want to see such a pathetic sight again, nor meet a man in such a rage. Three dogs had been responsible, he told me, a collie and two of the usual nondescript mongrels that run the streets of every country town and village.