Claims of a targeted campaign of vandalism on the Langness peninula are being investigated by police.

It’s a confrontation between dog owners and those that run the privately-owned land which has echoes of the row that broke out a decade ago when TV star Jeremy Clarkson re-routed a stretch of the coastal footpath.

He blamed ’militant dog walkers’ on the need for the diversion around his lighthouse cottage holiday home but was ultimately forced to restore the path after losing a legal battle and a public inquiry into public access.

Now Mr Clarkson’s ex-wife is facing problems with militant dog walkers again.

But the focus of the dispute this time is not the coastal footpath - but on three feisty Highland cows, Evita, Edna and Ethel.

The cattle were brought in at DEFA’s suggestion to control the gorse and protect the habitat of rare grasshoppers and local birdlife.

When they arrived the week before Easter, signs were put up warning dog owners to keep their pets on a lead.

But just two days after one of the signs was put up, it was stolen.

Then, some fencing around the paddock where the cows were initially kept was torn down, letting Evita, Edna and Ethel loose.

And only last week, another sign was ripped off the fence and left on the ground.

Wendi Keggin, who is the property manager for the land including the Langness Lighthouse Cottages, admits: ’I can’t understand the mentality.

’There are one or two people who are deliberately doing this. They are specifically targeting us. We’ve had the police down.’

The signs warn that dogs have to be kept on their leads at all times around the peninsula as there is livestock at large.

Wendi, who had to call the police again last Sunday after two ’aggressive, threatening’ men took umbrage at being told to leash their dogs, said she may be forced to prosecute those that repeatedly flout the warnings.

She said: ’I don’t want to stop people walking their dogs.

’But we need to manage the land - if we don’t, it will be taken over by gorse.

’I firmly believe in the public having acccess, but with that comes responsibility.’

She said there has always been an issue with dogs being let off their leads but nobody stopped them before.

’Since we put the signs up they say ’you can’t stop us’. Well yes we can, it’s private land and your dog should be on a lead.

’Some of them are horrible, calling you names. I’m a dog owner, I walk dogs. If you are not happy about putting a dog on a lead, go somewhere else.

’I don’t like being confrontational but if I have to, I will. I do shout at them. I can’t whisper across the field.

’Nobody is asking you to walk out there.’

Wendi said dog walkers have been leaving the footpaths to get close to the cows.

But she said this risked the cattle being chased, which may cause the cows to turn and charge.

She said: ’They are treating the highland cattle like pets.

’They are horned beasts in a field - they are not domesticated. I don’t touch them.

’If you are nervous about cattle why would you walk through them?

Wendi said that if cattle run at you, then you should drop the lead and let then chase the dog.

She said he had hoped to get sheep in but was hesitant to do so because of the ’bolshie’ dog walkers.

The problem of sheep worrying is getting worse across the island, she said.

Wendi said more people are now heeding the signs to keep their dogs on a lead.

’Before it was probably 50/50 but now 85 to 95% do put their dogs on lead,’ she said.

Police confirmed that they are investigating the vandalism.