Farmer shoots sheep after horror attack

File photo / Hawke's Bay Today

A south Canterbury farmer is disgusted at the cruelty of vandals who drove a vehicle around a paddock at his farm yesterday, leaving 12 heavily pregnant ewes dead and others badly injured.

Angus Lyon had to shoot one sheep after it was doused in an accelerant and set on fire by the vandals on his farm at Waitohi near Temuka, the Timaru Herald reported.

He said the 12 ewes had died a slow, painful death after they were hit by a vehicle speeding around the paddock.

Several had broken bones, one died in a pool of its own organs, and another was doused in accelerant and set on fire. Mr Lyon shot three sheep when he found them an hour later.

He said the attack was sick and something he had never seen before.

He said the ewes would have been lying on the ground eating or sleeping when the vehicle began speeding around the paddock.

Some of the sheep were so heavily pregnant they could not get up in time and were run over.

He said a pool of blood and a dead sheep showed one was dragged under the vehicle and had to be pulled out.

Others were believed to have taken hours to die from their injuries and others could not move because they had broken ankles or legs.

Temuka police constable Simon Izard appealed for information about the offenders, saying the vehicle may have been a 4WD and sustained damage.

- NZPA