A FARMER was left ‘flabbergasted’ after witnessing a family chase and corner a heavily-pregnant ewe to take ‘selfies’ with it.

The family ‘couldn’t see that they’d done anything wrong’ after getting hold of the exhausted animal for photos.

The ewe belongs to Harry Place Farm, near Chapel Stile in the Langdale valley.

“They said they didn’t know they were in lamb - but that’s not the point,” said a spokesman for the farm.

“I said ‘if you want me to call the police, they can sort this out’.

“They told me to call them because they’d done nothing wrong.

“They could abort the lambs.

"They could have had a heart attack with stress, they [the family] could have got injured themselves.

“To have someone have such disregard not only for an animal but also for a farm and their livelihood is pretty appalling.”

The spokesman said the father of the four-strong family apologised after a number of minutes of arguing but that one of his sons and his wife were still arguing they were not at fault.

The spokesman said he was initially alerted to the commotion by a neighbouring farmer.

“They’d cornered the sheep and were picking it up trying to take pictures of it,” he said.

“I shouted ‘put it down, it’s pregnant, you’re causing stress to the animal’.

“Basically, I was flabbergasted.”

He said the family then began videoing him, which they said they were doing because they had been shouted at.

“I don’t want to tar everyone with the same brush and most people are very respectful,” said the spokesman.

“There are certain individuals that don’t seem to appreciate it’s our livelihood, it’s a business we’re running as well.”

He said the police were later informed about the incident, which occurred over the weekend, and had logged it.