Achill woman’s dogs ‘savaged’ five sheep

Five sheep were killed in a nighttime attack by two dogs in Achill, the local district court has heard.
Julie Blake (45) of 20 Barr na Farraige, Achill Sound, appeared in court last Thursday. She pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Control of Dogs Act.
Garda Martin O’Reilly told the court that Julie Blake came to Achill Garda Station on November 22, 2015, saying she thought her dogs had killed some sheep. Garda O’Reilly called to Edward Scanlon, whom he believed to be the owner of the sheep, and Mr Scanlon said five of his animals had been killed during the night.
Mr Scanlon was brought to Ms Blake’s home and identified her two dogs as the dogs he had seen in his field the previous night. One was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and the other was a chocolate Labrador.
In a statement, Mr Scanlon said that after hearing barking behind his house at 1.30am on November 22, he went out and saw two dogs at opposite ends of the field chasing his sheep. He said it was too dark to see if they had done any damage, but the following morning he discovered that five of his sheep had been killed.
They were, he said, ‘completely savaged’. He said another sheep was in a bad condition, but survived, while five others showed signs of injury. He said some of the sheep that were killed were driven down into a drain. He added it was the third time in a year he had sheep killed by dogs.

Pictures
Pictures of the dead sheep were handed into the court. Judge Mary Devins remarked ‘it is hard to believe that dogs could do that’ upon viewing them.
The court heard both dogs were taken away by the dog warden and put down.
The financial loss to Mr Scanlon was €450 for the sheep and €150 for the removal of the carcasses. Many more of his sheep had suffered afterwards, the court heard.
The court heard the Labrador had opened the door of the house on the night in question and both dogs had left the house.
Defending solicitor James Ward said her client was ‘really sorry’ and had gone to the Gardaí herself when she heard what had happened. He asked for time for his client to come up with the money to pay Mr Scanlon for the loss of the sheep.
Judge Devins said she would be ‘a little bit more persuaded’ if Ms Blake had some money in court as nearly a year had passed since the incident. She said €600 was the figure she had in mind.
When addressed by Judge Devins, Mr Scanlon said he was not trying to get Ms Blake in trouble but that it was the third attack in a year on his sheep, and that Ms Blake had not tied up her dogs, despite being warned to do so.
Defending solicitor James Ward said Ms Blake was unaware of previous incidents. Garda O’Reilly said that he had investigated these other incidents but there was ‘no proof’ against Ms Blake.
The matter was put back to later in the sitting, upon which Ms Blake paid €180 to the court and her solicitor asked for more time to pay the balance. Judge Devins adjourned the case until January 12.