The flock of sheep that was attacked by three sheepdogs in Rosmalen on Sunday morning is in bad shape. At least 19 sheep are dead, but more are likely to follow in the coming days. That is what Daniëlle van Grunsven, manager of care farm Binckhorst, tells when she is with the herd on Sunday morning. “Lambs have lost their mothers and mothers have lost their lambs.”
The incident happened in the Binckhorst nature reserve. Thirteen sheep were immediately killed in the attack and at least six other animals were in such bad shape that they had to be put out of their misery.
Danielle is with the herd on Sunday morning to inspect the damage. “It’s a drama”, she sums up the situation. There are still sheep walking through the nature reserve that are limping or have wounds around the eyes. Many lambs can no longer drink from their mother. “The herd is in bad shape. They are all upset. Many sheep are still injured and we don’t know if they will make it.”
“Around the pond I saw all kinds of dead sheep.”
The vet will come to see the animals on Monday. The employees think more sheep will die. “For example, there is a lamb that still had to be suckled, but she has lost its mother and is probably not going to make it.”
The sheep are from care farm Binckhorst of care organization Cello, of which Daniëlle is manager. Around a quarter past eleven she got a call that the herd had been attacked. “A hiker saw three sheepdogs attack the sheep,” she recalls. Fifteen minutes later she was with the sheep, but by then many animals had already become victims. “I saw all kinds of dead sheep around the pond, that’s terrible.” A number of sheep managed to save themselves by swimming to an island in the pond.
“You can’t explain this.”
Danielle suspects that the dogs have broken loose from the owner. “They were running loose, but there are signs everywhere that dogs must be on a lead here. There was no owner with the dogs, so I think they escaped. I can’t imagine that something like that would be done deliberately.” The police have seized the three dogs, the owner of the farm has filed a report.
The care farm had a total of 24 ewes and 32 lambs. The animals are cared for by care farm clients with intellectual disabilities. “They are working with the animals every day, but at the moment they don’t know what happened to the animals. Tomorrow we will inform them and that will be really intense. You can’t explain this.”
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