You, your pet , and the law
Chester County dog warden
Dave MacElree warns dog owners
that letting their animals roam
unattended can be expensive.
Owners of livestock-killing
canines are subject to fines of up to
$3OO, and will be required to
reimburse the livestock owner for
damages.
In addition, dogs caught in the
act of worrying, wounding or
killing livestock, poultry,
household pets, gamebirds or
humans, may be shot. MacElree
cautions would-be shooters,
however, that this regulation will
not insulate them from a civil suit
filed by the dog’s owner.
Farmers having livestock killed,
injured or harassed by dogs should
call their state dog warden listed in
the phone, book under the section
containing government and other
public services.
Although most counties have
their own warden, some sparsely
populated areas of the state, such
as Potter and Tioga Counties, may
have one warden representing two
counties.
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According to state director of
dog law enforcement, Donald K.
Moul, the warden’s first job is to
determine whether the offending
animal is a domesticated dog or a
wild predator. The Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture will not
reimburse farmers for damage
done by wildlife, and such claims
must be submitted to the Pa. Game
Commission.
If the culprit was, indeed, a
domesticated animal, and the
owner cannot be located, com
pensation will then be provided by
the PDA through monies derived
from the sale of dog licenses.
MacElree also reminds farmers
that anyone harboring unlicensed
dogs of his own, automatically
forfeits his right to reimbursement
should he be victimized by
someone else’s animals.
All dogs six months of age or
older must be licensed on or before
January 1, of each year. The
current regular license fee is $5.00,
with a $3.00 license available for all
spayed or neutered animals.
the May 9, killings, one of their
ewes was attacked by a group of
dogs, and last spring another
canine had to be destroyed after
the free-roaming dog managed to
kill two of the family’s Angora
rabbits. The dog was finally
captured after making the mistake
of entering the sheep pen.
In order to insure the safety of
their animals, the Rosens installed
a 4%-foot woven wire fence with
barbed wire along the top and
bottom. But the dogs seemed
undeterred , digging beneath the
wire and entering the sheep bam
under cover of darkness.
“We’re now planning to install
sliding doors on the bam,” Judy
says,“but it’s discouraging. We’ve
spent all this money on fencing,
and now we’re forced to spend
even more on the bam.”
There’s nothing unique about the
problems at Butternut Farm. Each
year throughout Pennsylvania
livestock owners are plagued by
packs of free-roaming dogs whose
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Dogs and coyotes
(Continued from Page Al)
owners lack the responsibility to
keep their pets within property
lines.
Though many types of livestock
are subject to dog predation, sheep
are the most vulnerable, according
to state director of dog law en
forcement, Donald R. Moul. The
director points out that sheeps’
tendency to run rather than stand
their ground, combined with their
accessibility on pasturelands,
make the animals easy prey for
foot-loose canines looking for
nocturnal sport.
And the problem comes to a head
each spring with the arrival of the
lamb crop.
“In the southern part of the
county I’ve had several problem
areas and damage complaints
have been running at a frequency
of about two a week this spring,”
says Chester County state dog
warden, Dave MacElree.
Another couple quite familiar
with MacElree’s problems are
Bobbie and Walt Leis, of Mistralee
Farm. The Leis’s raise about 100
head of registered Corriedales on
their 15 acre farm south of Oxford.
Bred for both wool and meat, the
breed provides naturally colored
fleeces for the hand-spinning
market.
“The situation is really getting
out of hand in this area,” Bobbie
emphasizes, adding that at least
once a month one of them makes
an emergency dash to the barn
shotgun in hand-between 12
midnight and 6 a.m., to scare
marauding dogs away from their
animals.
But on March 24, the Leis’s
didn’t make it to the bam in time.
“It was about 6 a.m. when I
heard our dog barking,” Bobbie
recalls. “When I got to the bam I
found four of our yearling rams
already dead with large areas of
wool tom from their necks, ears
and legs. We had four other large
rams that the dogs had managed to
box into a comer. Their legs and
ears were chewed, but we
managed to save them with an
tibiotics.
“There were three dogs in
volved, two small ones and a large
Shepherd-type. I managed to shoot
the larger one, but he got away
with the others.”
Though German Shepherd-type
breeds were involved in both of the
above incidents, MacElree points
out that almost any of the larger
breeds can become sheep killers.
“I had an incident about two
months ago in East Goshen
Township that involved a
Doberman-Great Dane cross, and
a Brittany spaniel,” the warden
points out. “We’ve had problems
with Labradors and Irish Set
ters, too, but if 1 had to single out
one breed, I’d say that Siberian
huskies would head the list. Second
would be mixed-breed German
Shepherds.”
Another Chester County resident
who may well agree with
MacElree’s ranking is Lillian
Leonhard of Westchester. It was on
the morning of May 10, when a pair
of Siberians entered her bam and
attacked a goat. Two days later the
animal died of her injuries.
In the western part of the state,
Green County dog warden Oliver
Kelly, agrees that huskies and
Dobermans can be trouble, but
ranks the German Shepherd as his
county’s number one offender.
Green County extension agent
William Brown reports just over
100 sheep kills in 1983, and feels
that the reported number may only
be scratching the surface among
his county’s 200-plus shepherds.
“It seems that most everyone
here who has sheep has had dog
problems within the past few
years, ’’Brown observes. “The
frustrating thing is that most of
these animals are pets that could
easily be controlled by their
owners.”
Though ranchers m the western
states are well-known for their
Hatfield-McCoy relationship with
coyotes, the wild dogs are hardly
competition for their domesticated
cousins when it comes to Penn
sylvania sheep mortality.
Though in recent years coyotes
have become established in the
northern and central parts of
Pennsylvania, McKean County
extension agent Jack Erway says
that he is not aware of any coyote
problems in his area.
New York State shepherds may
find the coyote’s halo a bit tar
nished, however. Erway relates a
recent incident involving a Dan
ville-area breeder of Columbia
sheep, who lost 25 ewes within a
three-day period to coyotes this
spring.
State director Donald Moul
translates the problem to dollars
and cents, emphasizing that
Pennsylvania’s wildlife is
responsible for only about 10
percent of the damage claims
coming to his office.
When a farmer loses livestock of
any kind to dogs, the Pa. Depart
ment of Agriculture will provide
compensation if the offending
animal’s owner cannot be lo
cated. During 1983,330 such claims