A Perthshire chicken breeder was forced to kill several of her own birds after her flock was savaged by a runaway dog.
Award-winning artist Louise Jarvis came face-to-face with a scene of “carnage” when she stepped out of her Alyth cottage and found more than 20 hens lying dead, their carcasses strewn around the garden.
The dog and its owner were still standing on her property, she said.
Some of the birds were still flapping and writhing “in agony” on the ground.
Others had run for cover, prompting a search by residents using thermal imaging cameras.
Police Scotland is now investigating the incident.
Louise said: “It was Friday lunchtime, and I was working upstairs in my house with headphones and music on.
“My neighbour phoned to say she had one of my chickens and it was in a really bad state.
“She said I should really go outside and see what was happening. There appeared to be a dog in my garden.”
She said: “I took off really quickly and came outside to see a woman standing about three-quarters of the way up my path holding a spaniel.
“She was struggling to hold onto the dog, which was still in a frenzy. She had it by the collar, not on a lead.”
Louise said: “It was carnage. There were dead birds all over my garden.”
A total of 25 prized breeding stock chickens were killed.
“There were birds that were still alive, flapping on the ground,” said Louise. “They were screaming in agony and I had to go round and dispatch them myself.
“I had to kill about six of them. There was just nothing else I could do for them. They had broken legs, some had punctured lungs and one had its head pulled off but wasn’t quite dead.”
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Louise, who made headlines this year for her life-like canine sculptures, said one of her birds garrotted herself in a wire fence trying to escape the dog.
Two were found underneath a hedge the next day. “I’ve got one in the house which I’m treating, but she’s not in a good way and I don’t know if she’s going to make it,” said Louise. “She’s clearly still in shock and has been hyperventilating over the last few days.”
She launched her breeding business earlier this year, with birds bought from England and eggs transported from the Netherlands.
“Some of these birds can be quite expensive,” she said. “It’s about £70 or £80 per bird, and hundreds of pounds for a pair. All in all, it’s thousands of pounds worth of stock that has just been destroyed. I’m going to have to start again from scratch.”
She added: “The community has been great and people have offered me birds and eggs to help me get started again. But the problem is I can’t let these birds out, because I can’t guarantee the dog won’t come back. I’m terrified this could happen again.”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said officers had received a report of chickens being killed by a dog at a house in Alyth and inquiries were under way.
