Brian and Jane Buckley woke up several days ago to discover four of their 39 geese dead, with wounds consistent with dog bites, and 19 other birds missing. The remaining animals have, the couple say, been left ‘petrified’.
Mr Buckley said the attack happened at exactly the same time as a similar incident two years ago.
He suspects that a dog has been used to round up the animals, which have then been shot with a silencer and taken away to be sold as food.
‘They don’t fly – the most they can fly is probably two feet – and they don’t wander far from our property, they don’t even go in the road.
‘We found evidence where they were killed and I believe that they have been poached.’
He added: ‘Whoever is doing this has no consideration whatsoever.
‘We don’t keep them for commercial use, they are pets, we don’t kill them. And it is quite disgraceful.’
Mr Buckley said he now wanted to warn other livestock owners. ‘I want to send a message to other people that have animals that there are people around that are doing this,’ he said. ‘It is stealing and it is murdering animals which had good lives.’
