Concord Hill Icelandics Dog Attack 2008

I had honestly hoped that I would never have the experience necessary to write
the following page, but, alas...

Having to deal with illness has NOT been something I have had to become very
acquainted with while raising Icelandic sheep. Our sheep are healthy and very
sturdy. Yes, we have had our fair share of accidents, most of them quite bizarre,
but the idea of having dogs in the sheep was one of those things that I had not
been losing sleep over. After all, we have electric fence all around our field and
had a livestock guard dog who seems up to the task of fighting off a dog. I
suppose though that 2 very large Boxers were a bit more than he could manage
single handed and we had a horrible tragedy waiting for us when we arrived at
the barn on the morning of Feb. 26, 2008. There were 8 mangled ewes scattered
all over our pasture and it was like a scene from a M*A*S*H episode. They each
had to be carried from the field to the barn, with the worst injuries having been
inflicted on our poor, gentle Eliza Jane.

When the vet arrived at our farm (our first vet call EVER to our farm in 5 years!)
he stood and looked over the carnage and stated that it looked like a battlefield.
After looking the sheep over, he concluded that he could not do anything without
the sheep being at his office, over 1/2 hour away. We called someone to haul the
sheep to his office where he did his best to patch them up. He later told me that
he decided to just bill me by the hour because he couldn't even keep track of all
the surgery he had performed on which of the sheep. It was such a horrible thing
to witness. After all, these are the same sheep we have loved and cared for over
the years. They are not just livestock to us, but are our friends...friends who trust
us to take care of them and protect them. Anyone who has ever visited our farm
probably knows how attached we are to each of our sheep...and, yes, they are all
named. Our Icelandic sheep are not just a cold, hard business to us.

The next morning, we lost our dear Eliza Jane to her injuries. I had been worried
that she would not survive because her jugular veins were terribly swollen and I
suspect that her back was broken. She died the next morning, in the barn next to
her daughter from the previous spring, Calamity Jane. They were terribly close,
and Calamity Jane did grieve for several days after this. We do miss Eliza Jane
terribly and there will never be any way to replace her.

We were still unsure of the fate of 3 of the other Icelandic ewes for several months.
Althought they survived the initial attack, their injuries were very severe.
Clairie, our Blessa granddaughter, was down most of the summer. Both of her
front legs were terribly damaged and she got around by crawling on her knees.
Surprise had some severe damage to her left back leg and her front right leg.
Both of her ears were chewed off. She remained sweet and was such a treasure to
have...although she was definitely ready for us to stop giving her pen. g shots
daily! Mazi had a back leg that was so mangled that we doubted that, even if she
did live, she would ever be able to breed again naturally, if at all. The bone and
tendon were exposed and the leg just dangled there. We were prepared to lose her
as it didn't look good to say the least. She was a fighter though, so I held out hope
for her, although I was just not sure she would be able to have any lambs in the
future...if she even lived. Looking at Mazi in particular, I was confident that she
would never be able to return to the flock and would need a lot of special care for
the rest of her life. I suspected that all of the three with the worst injuries would
be invalids for life.

After months of care and attention Clairie and Surprise were released back into
the pasture. Mazi's leg became infected and had isolated areas of gangrene. We
had to have the leg removed in March. She, although not what she used to be, is
actually free in the pasture with her lamb from 2009 by her side. This was a true
miracle to say the least!! All of the Icelandic ewes who were attacked last spring
(2008) lambed and had wonderful babies this past spring. What a relief! We had
practically no lambs at all in 2008. I am assuming that it was related to the dog
attack although I don't know why it would have made them all lose their lambs.
The ewes were all healthy, and I've never had anything like this happen before or
since, so...it seems that the likely cause was the dog attack.

At the bottom of this page are some pictures of our wonderful Eliza Jane and some
of the survivors.

I would go into the details that surround that horrible day, but I must say here
that there are still many very caring, compassionate people in this world. They
are people who will step up and help someone out by going beyond the call and
giving of themselves. Even though this could easily be rated as the single most
horrible day in my life to date, (the dog attack was just the icing to the cake
actually as there were far worse things that happened in our family this same
day) there were many people who showed me that decent people still do exist. I
guess we are not ever given a trial without being given a gem in the midst of it
all...if we can just look beyond all the 'yuck' to see the gift.

If you have a strong stomach, pictures of our mangled sheep are able to be viewed
if you hit this link. I warn you that some of the pictures are very graphic, but it is
what can happen to any flock who is not protected by an adequate number of
Livestock Guard Dogs of some reliable breed.


When Stray Dogs Attack... Updated 8/14/09



	(These are pictures from when Deja and Mazi were lambs.) Although she has recovered from her injuries in the dog attack, Deja (left) had a horribly damaged front and back leg both requiring surgery. She also lost her 2008 lamb. She has returned to live with the flock and did lamb in May 2009. Mazi (on the right) will never be fully recovered, as her back leg had to be amputated shortly after the attack. She lost her 2008 lamb, but she did lamb this past spring and has a beautiful ram lamb. What fighters!


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