Thirty-five attacks on livestock have been the result of dogs off a lead in the last five years, according to police records.

This information comes from an Freedom of Information request put to the Isle of Man Constabulary by Alf Caine, a farmer who lives in Braddan who has previously been the victim of dog attacks on his livestock.

Speaking to the Examiner in December Mr Caine said: ‘We at Castleward Farm lose livestock to dog attacks most, if not every year, we do not report incidents when we do not catch the dog in the act of worrying livestock.

‘It would be a futile exercise and a waste of very valuable time and resources of our hard-working, excellent police force.’

Mr Caine also revealed to the Examiner that he estimates he will lose up to 20% this coming birthing season due to dogs worrying or killing his livestock, on average he loses 4-5% of his flock during this time.

The Manx branch of the National Farmers’ Union has said: ‘We are doing some of our own research in to how many incidents occur on farm, what impact this has, and how many incidents go unreported.

‘We also want to ascertain how many incidence have resulted in a prosecution.’

The Manx NFU intends to run a campaign on the back of these enquiries to address the amount of dog attacks on livestock.

The NFU has previously provided Isle of Man Newspapers with the advice it gives to members around lambing season.

It advises: ‘Sometimes dog owners feel that their dog should be allowed to run free, or that their dog won’t do any harm and is just “playing” or “having fun”.

‘Chasing by dogs can cause serious damage to sheep, even if the dog doesn’t catch them.

‘The stress of worrying by dogs can cause sheep to die and pregnant ewes to miscarry their lambs.

‘Sheep fleeing from dogs are often killed or seriously injured by their panicked attempts to escape, damaging fences and field boundaries in the process.’

The general manager of the Manx Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) Joanna Warburton, said: ‘Just keep your dog on a lead when around livestock, unless you’re being attacked by a cow.

‘You should not allow dogs off their lead to just run free, they should be under control, this is down to training.’

The FoI response also shows that there was one reported incident between 2017-18 that was ‘not a dog attack’ and 10 reported incidents for which information was not held.