An Ex-Sheep

More dead than the Monty Python parrot, and not funny, this sheep has died in Cowsick bog a victim of the failures of the farming industry and the local conservation industry to properly care for their workforce. It had been sent here for one specific purpose: to wage war via voracious eating, thus preventing nature from doing what it wants. Its role was that of a foot-soldier press-ganged into a life of subjugating the land to a dreary predictability - a process known as Higher Level Stewardship. As far as we can tell, this ewe was simply left behind when the others were whisked off to the maternity ward some weeks ago. This has been witnessed a number of times in past years: they gather together as many as they can conveniently find and take them off. Not much thought is given to the animal welfare of those who may have been missed; farmers and wildlifetrusters may not even know how many there should be. Giving birth on the hills alone carries risks though last year some seem to have survived. Some farmers will tell you they run businesses and can't afford to be sentimental - not even compassionate in some cases - yet to read the press releases that make their way into the national media the hill farmers seek out their flocks in blizzards on the hillsides risking life and limb battling against the elements.

I know the mindset of certain farmers and land managers in this part of the world. Their first instinct is to blame somebody else. In this case it could be a dog owner unable to stop its dog chasing a sheep. That's something else seen a number of times. The sheep is already dead and sending out a powerful smell that dogs can recognise from a long way off; to them it can be irresistible especially the retriever types who are born scavengers. When they are seen standing over the dead sheep it's easy to come to the conclusion that it's the dog that's killed the sheep. And in some cases it might be. But not all; and nobody examines the evidence forensically so the usual process occurs of making things fit the narrative you've already chosen.

Labradors are particularly prone to scavenging and I've seen several become suddenly uncontrollable when the smell of decaying mutton hits their nostrils wafting over fields from a long way off,  . Farmers are protected by law if they choose to shoot dogs but the law only rarely intervenes to prosecute those who neglect their stock. That's what makes the potential for a serious injustice. The much loved hound being sacrificed for the neglected sheep. The law has always been prone to favour landowners.