VICTORIA -- A Metchosin farmer who has a public trail on his farm says he is "at wits' end" after off-leash dogs keep scaring and killing his sheep.
Tom Henry, who owns Stillmeadow Farm with his wife Violane Mitchell, has a popular public right-of-way trail through his farm at the end of Wooton Road. Sea Bluff Trail runs through pastures where ewes and lambs usually graze in peace.
But lately off-leash dogs and their owners have been causing a lot of frustration for the farmers.
Dogs will chase and scare the sheep, sometimes injuring them or worse, he says. The loss of a lamb is a $350 loss for Henry.
"We work really hard to birth these animals, give them a good circumstance," Henry tells CTV News. "It's really upsetting to see lambs injured, maimed, killed, when it was preventable."
Henry says they had one sheep killed in the fall and two injured so far this year.
There are multiple signs asking dog owners to leash their dogs and Henry has even left out twine for owners to use as a leash.
A few days ago Henry says he approached a man whose dog was off-leash and asked him politely to leash his dog. The man rudely refused, Henry says.
The trail was established in the 1980s by Mitchell's grandfather who owned the farm. He grew up in England and loved the British right-of-way trail system, working with the District of Metchosin to open the trail.
Henry says he has thought about closing the trail but doesn't want to go there yet.
"We like to see people walk through the trail as much as people like to walk the trail," he says.
"We really believe in people going for a healthy walk and seeing farming. It's not that easy to do anymore," he adds. "We're actually kind of at wits end, we don't know what to do."
