7:50am Monday 16th February 2009
By Sarah Poole »
CHILDREN enjoying a birthday outing watched in horror as a dog savaged a deer. The mongrel caused havoc when it got into the deer pen at Smithills Open Farm, Bolton, while families were enjoying their Sunday afternoon. Then the dog turned on a farm manager who tried to stop the attack.
Children as young as four looked on as the terrified deer was chased into a fence, breaking its neck. The dog then started mauling the animal. Farm manager Carl Grimshaw was taking two birthday parties of four and five-year-olds on a tractor ride around the Bolton farm when he saw something was wrong. He said: “I noticed the deer were running around in a frightened state.
“Then I saw the dog and it was chasing them all — but it seemed to have singled out this particular one. The children were watching it all and were shocked and terrified to see the animals so out of control.” Fast-thinking Mr Grimshaw jumped off the tractor and hurdled over three fences to stop the dog.
But by the time he reached the spot where the deer was attacked, it was too late. “When I got to the third fence, the dog had scared the deer so much that it had run straight into the fence and broke its neck. The deer was being mauled by the dog and, when I tried to grab it, it bit me.”
Two women, who appeared to be the dog’s owners, fled the scene and the dog ran off towards the old garden centre to the back of the farm.
The pregnant fallow deer, which was due to give birth in June, was attacked at around 12.30pm yesterday. It is the third deer at the farm to be killed by a loose dog in the last 18 months. The women with the dog were in their late 20s and one was wearing a bright red coat.
Mr Grimshaw is asking anyone who may have seen the dog or its owners to contact the farm on 01204 595765.
Source
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment