Since Friday June 7, 2024, the first attack in a series of three until the last Friday June 21, 21 sheep were affected, including 14 killed on pastures in Gâtine, in Saint-Georges-de-Noisné.
In Vieilles vignes, Pillemil and Airaudières, the herds of three different breeders, out of the four in this small town of nearly 700 inhabitants, were thus impacted.
Two complaints were filed with the Parthenay gendarmerie; the gendarmes even moved after one of these bloody attacks. “It wasn’t a pretty sight. We found sheep with disembowelled throats, or with multiple bite marks… others, panicked, drowned in a pond”testifies Ludovic Bire, mayor of Saint-Georges-de-Noisné, the only sheep breeder in his commune not to have been affected by these recurring attacks this time. “It’s really worrying, I’m afraid to put my sheep in the pasture after all that,” he adds.
An appeal to the population
“And that worries everyone, I’m afraid there will be one who pulls out the gun one day,” fears Ludovic Bire. As in Saint-Pardoux on another breeding farm last year, the breeders are helpless.
“We see the dogs every time because they bark at the sheep every time they attack but it’s impossible to catch them, they run away every time there’s a human presence. They are two Australian Shepherds, one blue merle with a red collar, the other darker brown,” specifies the mayor who is launching an appeal to the population so that possible witnesses report any presence of these dogs to the Saint-Georges town hall.
Saint-Georges-de-Noisné town hall, tel. 05.49.95.42.19.
