If your dog goes for my sheep, then I will shoot, UK farmers warn walkers
-Inexperienced owners who acquired dogs during lockdown are blamed for rise in livestock deaths

英国农民警告行人,如果你的狗咬了我的羊,我就开枪
——在封锁期间缺乏经验的养狗人被指责是造成牲畜死亡数量上升的原因


(Farmers are asking dog walkers to keep their pets on leads during the critical lambing season.)

(农民们要求遛狗者在关键的产羔季节拴好他们的狗。)
新闻:

Farmers are warning that attacks on livestock by dogs are reaching “epidemic proportions” as they brace themselves for a surge in dog attacks heading into peak lambing season.

农民们警告说,狗对牲畜的攻击正达到“羊瘟的程度”,在产羔高峰期,狗对牲畜的攻击激增,农民们正做好准备。

An increase in dog ownership during the pandemic, especially among inexperienced dog owners, saw the cost of dog attacks on livestock rise 10% last year to £1.3m, according to research published by NFU Mutual.

根据全国农场主联合会公布的研究,在疫情期间,越来越多的人养狗,尤其是没有经验的狗主人,去年狗攻击牲畜的数量上升了10%,达到130万英镑。

Rebecca Davidson, rural affairs specialist at the insurer, said: “It’s a critical time in the farming calendar and there is widespread concern as we enter the peak lambing season that there will be a surge in new visitors who are simply unaware of the Countryside Code or how their dog will behave around farm animals.”

保险公司的农村事务专家丽贝卡·戴维森说:“这是农业日历上的关键时刻,随着我们进入产羔旺季,人们普遍担心会有大量新游客,他们根本不知道农村的规定,也不知道他们的狗在农场动物周围的行为。”

The start of lambing season has been fraught for farmer Gordon Wyeth due to attacks on his sheep by pet dogs. He estimates that the number of attacks has doubled since the start of lockdown. “We had a ram that was bitten through the throat and died, we had six lambs [killed], I think that was the next day. And then we had a husky chasing in-lamb ewes, the day after that. One ewe died after that one,” he said. “The problem is reaching epidemic proportions. It’s so much worse than it ever has been.”

产羔季节的开始让农民戈登·惠思忧心忡忡,担心他的羊被宠物狗攻击。他估计,自封锁开始以来,袭击的次数增加了一倍。“我们有一只公羊被咬穿喉咙死了,我们有6只小羊被杀了,我想那是在第二天。之后的一天,有一只哈士奇在追赶母羊。后来又有一头母羊死了,”他说。“这个问题已经达到了羊瘟的程度。这比以往任何时候都要糟糕得多。”

The revised Countryside Code, published on 1 April, advises visitors to keep their dogs “under control and in sight” – guidelines that farmers fear do not go far enough in educating dog owners.

修订后的《农村规定》于4月1日公布,建议游客将狗置于“控制和视线范围内”——农民担心这一准则在教育狗主人方面做得不够。

It is a criminal offence for a dog to chase or attack livestock, known as “worrying”, and owners are liable for a £1,000 fine, even if the dog appears to cause no harm.

狗追逐或攻击牲畜是一种刑事犯罪,被称为“追逐撕咬”,即使狗看起来没有造成伤害,主人也要承担1000英镑的罚款。

Davidson said: “Even if a dog doesn’t make physical contact, the distress and exhaustion of the chase can cause sheep to die or miscarry.

戴维森说:“即使狗没有进行身体接触,追逐的痛苦和疲惫也会导致羊死亡或流产。”

These attacks cause unbearable suffering to farm animals, as well as huge anxiety for farmers and their families as they deal with the aftermath.”

这些袭击给农场动物造成了难以忍受的痛苦,农民和他们的家人在处理善后工作时也非常焦虑。”

Wyeth, who is one of the largest sheep farmers in Britain with 12,000 sheep across the south of England, has suffered more than most.

惠氏是英国最大的牧羊人之一,在英格兰南部拥有1.2万只羊,他遭受的损失比大多数人都多。

In one attack, in 2016, he lost 116 sheep and lambs, which is thought to be the worst attack on record in the UK and is certainly his biggest single loss in 35 years of sheep farming.

在2016年的一次袭击中,他损失了116只羊和羊羔,这被认为是英国有记录以来最严重的一次袭击,当然也是他养羊35年以来最大的一次损失。

He said: “They were pushed into a gateway in a gully and smothered. We just found a great big heap of dead sheep pushed up against the gate. We never found the dog for that one.

他说:“羊群被推到沟里的一个通道里,窒息而死。我们刚发现一大堆死羊靠在大门上。我们一直没找到那条狗。

“We were mortified. When you’ve got lots of animals you get used to death and everything else, but it’s a different kind of feeling – it’s emotional when it’s such a waste and the animals are suffering.”

“我们感到烦心。当你养了很多动物时,你已经习惯了死亡和其他的事情,但这是一种不同的感觉——当你看到这么多动物遭受痛苦时,这是一种情感。”

He said signs put up around the farm are often removed by dog walkers and police seem reluctant to take action after attacks.

他说,农场周围张贴的标志经常被遛狗的人移走,警察似乎也不愿在袭击发生后采取行动。

The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for rural and wildlife crime, Chief Constable Darren Martland, said police forces were “strengthening their response to rural crime” and urged rural communities to be “our eyes and ears”.

国家警察局长委员会负责农村和野生动物犯罪,局长达伦·马特兰德说,警察部队正在“加强对农村犯罪的反应”,并敦促农村社区成为“我们的眼睛和耳朵”。

But despite livestock worrying being a crime, Wyeth has been left fighting dog owners both in the civil courts and in his own fields. He said: “You’d be amazed the abuse we get when we pull anyone up about not having their dogs on leads.”

尽管追逐牲畜被认为是一种犯罪行为,但惠氏一直在民事法庭和自己的田地里与狗主人战斗。他说:“当我们把那些没有牵狗的人拉上来的时候,你会惊讶于我们受到的糟蹋。”

Wyeth say he is a dog lover and owns 10 dogs himself. He blames the owners for attacks, adding: “There isn’t such a thing as a bad dog, it’s just bad owners.”

惠氏说他很爱狗,自己也养了10只狗。他指责狗的主人要为攻击负责,并补充说:“没有所谓的坏狗,只是坏主人而已。”

Dr Jenna Kiddie, head of canine behaviour at the Dogs Trust, warned all dog owners to be on their guard around the sight, sound, smell or even expectation of livestock.

詹娜·基德博士是“狗狗信托”的犬类行为研究负责人,她警告所有的狗主人,在看到、听到、闻到甚至看到家畜时都要保持警惕。

She said: “It is important to remember that chasing is part of a dog’s normal behaviour, and that any dog is capable of chasing, irrelevant of breed, type, age or size.”

她说:“重要的是要记住,追逐是狗的正常行为的一部分,任何狗都有能力追逐,这与品种、类型、年龄和体型无关。”

But on top of the damage their dogs can do, and the risk of being fined, owners have another reason to be concerned.

但是除了他们的狗可能造成的伤害和被罚款的风险之外,主人们还有另一个担心的理由。
原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


The law protects farmers who shoot dogs that are chasing livestock, and Wyeth has shot pet dogs in the past. He said: “It makes you feel sick for weeks, it’s horrible.”

法律保护那些射杀追逐牲畜的狗的农民,惠氏过去也射杀过宠物狗。他说:“这么做会让你难受几个星期,太可怕了。”

But he added: “We’ve just started lambing so I take my gun with me. I can guarantee you, within the next two or three weeks, a dog will attack my sheep and I will shoot it.”

但他补充说:“我们才刚开始产羔,所以我随身带着枪。我可以向你保证,在接下来的两三个星期里,狗会攻击我的羊,而我将射杀它。”