Owner of pet lamb savaged by 'Staffie' believes dog should have been destroyed

David Irving has welcomed an order made by Furness Magistrates' Court on Thursday requiring his neighbour John McGee to muzzle his two dogs after a number of incidents involving lambs.

Mr Irving spoke out in April after McGee's pet dog, believed to be a Staffie cross, got onto his land near Sandhall in Ulverston and attacked two 14-day-old lambs.

One of the lambs was killed instantly but the other was still alive and Mr Irving had to call out the vet to put the animal out of its misery.

READ MORE: Ulverston family devastated after pet lambs are savaged by dog

On Thursday, McGee appeared at Furness Magistrates' Court where court orders were imposed requiring his two dogs Tess and Lily to be muzzled and kept on a lead.

The court appearance followed four charges of being the owner of a dog which was dangerously out of control, following two incidents on March 20 and April 22 of this year, including the attack on Mr Irving's lambs.

The Irving family was left devastated by the attack, with the two children heartbroken at the gruesome murder of their two new lambs.

"It is a step in the right direction," Mr Irving said, when asked for his thoughts on the outcome of the court hearing.

"If it had been a dog which lived three miles away it wouldn't be as much of a problem, but the dogs live just on the other side of our field.

"I would have been quite happy if the dog had been destroyed. I do think there is a chance it could attack a child or adult."

The application in court was for either the dogs to be kept under proper control or for them to be destroyed.

Reasons given by the magistrates for opting for a court order instead of having the dogs destroyed included that McGee had made financial reparations to Mr Irving and that there had been no incidents in the last eight months.

Magistrates also noted that McGee, 59, had taken steps to put up new fencing, a back gate and secured any access to the paddock.