Sheep attacked by Rottweiler at National Trust’s Brimmer Head Farm in Grasmere

The sheep, owned by the National Trust’s Brimmer Head Farm, was left with puncture wounds on its face and jaw after being mauled by a Rottweiler.

Farmer and owner, Jane Powell said: “We were just having our lunch when two people knocked on our front door to tell us they had just witnessed a dog attacking a sheep.

“The sheep was hiding behind a wall, covered in blood and the people with the dog had just left it.

“It was Rottweiler dog. The owners did nothing about it. They just walked away.

“My son, Matthew, looked for them but they were gone. He found the sheep and brought it back to the farm.

“The people who told us it was a man and a woman who owned the dog. They didn’t even have to guts to come and tell us what their dog had done.

“The people who witnessed it were understandably very shaken by seeing it.

“It’s becoming a regular occurrence in the Lake District and it’s totally unacceptable. People need to know about this.

“We have seen this regularly happening to our livestock. We have signs on the paths asking people to keep their dogs on their leads, but they think ‘it won’t be my dog’. They don’t know that their dog will do it until it goes and does it.

“You might think that your dog is just playing and the next moment they are attacking the sheep. People don’t see the consequences. They just left it.

“The sheep is alive, and we are doing what we can for it.

“We sprayed it with an antiseptic. It has deep wounds on his face. We are doing what we can, we really hope it will be ok.

“Please keep your dogs on a lead and try to understand the risks that dogs pose to our animals.” The farmer' said they were going to report the attack to the police.