Sheep attacks and harassment: research

9. Emotional impact of attacks

In the survey, farmers were asked how much they were personally upset by the most recent attack on their sheep. The figure below shows respondents' responses in relation to their most recent dog incident. Eighty per cent of farmers indicated that the dog attack had upset them a great deal or quite a lot with almost half (47%) saying it had upset them a great deal.

Figure 9.1 Emotional impact of dog attacks. Q How much did the incident personally upset you, if at all?

Base: All whose sheep were attacked by a dog in the last year (293)

The same question was asked of respondents whose sheep had experienced a wildlife attack in the last year. Figure 9.2 shows the extent to which farmers were personally upset by their most recent attack. Seventy per cent of farmers indicated that they were upset either a great deal or quite a lot by the wildlife attack and a third (33%) said it had upset them a great deal.

Figure 9.2 Emotional impact of wildlife attacks. Q How much did the incident personally upset you, if at all?

Base: All whose sheep were attacked by wildlife in the last year (840)

There was no difference in the level of upset experienced between farmers with different career lengths or different flock sizes.

Female respondents were more likely than male respondents to say they had been upset "a great deal" by both dog attacks and wildlife attacks. 43% of male respondents reported having been upset a great deal by their most recent dog attack, while 60% of female respondents reported having felt this way. Further, while 40% of female respondents reported to have been upset a great deal by their most recent wildlife attack, the figure was 30% among men. It should be acknowledged that expressions of emotion cannot be taken in isolation from the context of wider social norms, and this difference perhaps reflects the fact that it may be perceived as more acceptable for women to express a sense of deep upset than it is for men.

Our qualitative research explored the emotional impact of sheep attacks in more depth and greater detail, providing insight into the wide range of emotional responses that attacks on sheep may provoke among farmers and others in their household.

Although participants consistently emphasised the fact that they were, and had to be, resilient to dealing with traumatic incidents and shocking sights in their daily work, nonetheless the distress that attacks caused sheep farmers and their families was tangible. Many shared stories and graphic photographs displaying the horrific injuries some sheep had sustained.

"You can't compensate a sheep farmer financially for the distress, and it really is distress."

(Sheep farmer, Argyll and Bute)

There was a clear sense that attacks were also deeply affecting farmers' families, and often causing yet more distress among farmers' partners and children. One participant commented that it was deeply upsetting for his wife, who assisted with the lambing process, and others commented that the worst affected were their partners and children.

"My wife does the lambing and it's very upsetting for her to look after the sheep and then put them outside for them to be killed."

(Sheep farmer, North East Scotland)

"I think partners and children are definitely worst [affected]."

(Sheep farmer, Dumfries and Galloway)

As well as witnessing the injuries and death of their sheep as a result of attacks, it was evident that having to personally destroy seriously injured sheep was a deeply upsetting experience for farmers. In one case, having to do this daily for sixteen consecutive days, as a result of raven attacks had led a farmer to giving up her large flock.

"I was just so disheartened, I mean the fact that I was literally going round every day on my quad with my .22, shooting lambs."

(Sheep farmer, East Central Scotland)

Beyond the immediate distress at seeing and dealing with their sheep's distressing injuries, farmers described the loss of their livestock as "soul-destroying", explaining this with reference to the hard labour that goes into nurturing their sheep, and the pride they take in this. Emphasising the centrality of their livestock to their personal identity, farmers described the loss of sheep as deeply affecting their morale and motivation.

"It's the amount of work … and you see this being destroyed in front of you...it's so absolutely soul destroying."

(Sheep farmer, East Central Scotland)

"Lambing a ewe and keeping her a whole year and you find that the lamb has died, or won't survive, it's just a disaster. You've done everything right and just ready to lamb and you find something like that happening, it's horrendous."

(Sheep farmer, North East Scotland)

It was not uncommon for participants to refer to instances in extreme cases where the rate and severity of attacks had been so demoralising that they had contributed to farmers they knew giving up their flocks altogether. Two participants cited it as a contributing factor in their personal decision to reduce the size of their flock.

"We're thinking we're not going to replace our sheep - we're going to let the flock diminish to nothing, that's what we're doing. [The attacks] are not the prime reason, but that's one of the reasons."

(Sheep farmer, North East Scotland)

The emotional effect of incidents clearly varied to some extent by the species involved. Generally speaking, attacks by dogs tended to incite a stronger emotional response among farmers than those by wildlife species. In addition to the distress and sense of loss caused by seeing the effect of attacks on sheep common among all types of attacks, farmers commented that they felt a greater sense of anger, frustration and disappointment as a result of attacks by dogs. They explained this with reference to the fact that such attacks were not inevitable and were attributable to the irresponsibility of the humans involved.

"I think I'm more annoyed about the dog simply because ravens, foxes, eagles, they're doing what they do…But the dog, that is just people being irresponsible, so I find that more annoying."

(Sheep farmer, East Central Scotland)

"It's the worst…Your animal has suffered because of somebody else's fault basically."

(Sheep farmer, Dumfries and Galloway)

Further, farmers described a need to repress the anger they experienced in the case of some dog attacks, which they felt had longer term impacts on them. They described how their ownership of a gun put them in a position of perceived vulnerability: they feared that any expression of anger about a dog attack could be used against them by the police who might revoke their licence. Participants also alluded to the mental and emotional energy required to stay calm in the aftermath of an attack when dealing with the dog owner, and felt it had contributed to problems with their health.

"[You feel] very vulnerable, you must keep your mouth shut and you must have at least one witness [when talking to the dog owner]… You [must] never lose your cool."

(Sheep farmer, East Central Scotland)

"It's bad … actually damaging famers' health, because for the very reasons I've spoken about, you have that supressed rage."

(Sheep farmer, East Central Scotland)

While there was a consensus that attacks by dogs had the greatest emotional impact on farmers, participants were keen to differentiate between the effects of wildlife species such as foxes which they could control, and protected wildlife species such as eagles and badgers which they could not control. While the former were most common, it was the latter which bothered farmers the most. Participants conveyed a sense of great frustration and utter helplessness where they were affected by wildlife species which they had no legal right to control. They were also frustrated at public agencies such as SNH which they felt did not appreciate their problems or care about their interests. This was exacerbated where they had experienced repeated attacks over a period of time and by the generally positive public perception of these species.

"It's the ones you can't control, [which are] the most upsetting…The badgers and the gulls they are annoying to me."

(Sheep farmer, North East Scotland)

"With the protected species you feel helpless that you can't do anything about it and that's not a good feeling."

(Sheep farmer, North East Scotland)