Attacks could be prevented

My letter referring to “Four sheep die in attack by dog” by Stephen Wynn-Davies which was published in the Hastings Observer on Friday, June 24.

It is disgusting that animals are treated like this. It has cost four animals their lives and a financial loss to the farm, which could have a negative effect on the local economy. I think that any tragedy is sad, but an incident that clearly could have been prevented is much sadder, when it happens.

There have been a number of incidents involving dogs in the local area, and I keep seeing more and more dogs off their leads. For example the other week, I visited the Polegrove in Bexhill to watch Bexhill Cricket Club in action, but to my surprise I kept repeatedly seeing dogs running lose around the Polegrove. I was quite surprised about this, as there were a few families around including children. In fact the match had to be stopped for a short period, because a dog had escaped from its female owner, and decided to run on and then off the field of play.

On the same day after the match, I was just walking towards the exit of the Polegrove, when a dog decided to run at me and then jump up at me. The owner of the dog then shouted over to me: “It’s only a puppy, it won’t hurt you”. I thought, “How do you know?”.

I personally thought the behaviour of that dog and its owner that day was unacceptable, and they need to change their attitude towards other people and other animals, because if something is not done soon, the problem is only going to get bigger and bigger.