Farmer left distraught after frenzied dog attacks on sheep flock along Longford/Cavan border
These were the shocking images a local sheep farmer discovered after falling foul of two separate dog attacks within the space of a matter of weeks.
Arva man Richard Eakins said he was still struggling to come to terms with losing six ewes after maurauding dogs attacked and killed six ewes in recent days.
"Myself and two of my neighbours that live beside me suffered losses that day," he said.
"One man had three lambs that were 45 to 50kg and which were born last February or March and another man had five lambs killed while I had three that were lost and only at the start of gestation."
"We saw the two dogs but they were too far away when we arrived."
Richard said while a number were treated by a vet, it is likely any in-lamb ewes will not reach full gestation.
To add to the father of two's woes, Richard said he is facing a hefty financial outlay as a consequence of the two attacks.
"The walking wounded that were treated will probably survive but with the injections, a side effect of that is they will probably lose what they have and we probably won't know until March if we are running around with barren sheep," he said.
And while he said it was vital the dogs responsible for both attacks are identified, the 66-year-old said the entire episode was one which had yet to fully sink in.
"It's such a shame that you keep ewes the whole year around, at some stage they go to the ram and five months later you are hoping for a fresh crop of lambs and for no reason you are hit with the likes of this," he added.