A guide for visitors on how to not worry livestock

What is livestock worrying?

A person who owns, or is in charge of a dog which worries livestock on any agricultural land commits the offence of livestock worrying.

The term ‘worrying’ means:

• attacking livestock;
• chasing livestock in such a way as may be reasonably expected to cause injury or suffering; in the case of ewes, this includes abortion or loss or reduction in the number of offspring;
• not having a dog on a lead or under close control when close by, or in a field or enclosure with livestock.

Dogs which do not need to be on a lead include:

• those owned by, or in the charge of the occupier of the land, the owner of the sheep or a person authorised by these people;
• a police dog;
• a guide dog for the blind;
• a trained sheep dog*;
• a working gun dog* or one of a pack of hounds.

*a working dog needs to be clearly working at the time to be exempt.

What can the farmer do?

The owner of the livestock or the land or any authorised person may kill or injure a dog*in order to protect the livestock. The dog must be worrying or about to worry the livestock.

There must be:

• no other reasonable means of ending or preventing the worrying; or
• the dog has not left the vicinity and is not under the control of any person and there are no reasonable means of ascertaining ownership.

This does not count if livestock has trespassed onto someone else’s land and a dog belonging to the land owner is worrying the livestock. If sheep have been attacked and require treatment, disposal or have lost lambs, then losses can be claimed back from the dog owner through a civil claim.

*The law requires this to be reported to the police within 48 hours, but preferably as soon as possible. It is also advisable to contact the dog warden as well. Often the dog warden will be aware of a lost dog and owners can be traced quickly. The dog warden can also scan any shot dogs for a microchip.

Information taken from the RSPCA  https://www.rspca.org.uk/