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The owner of five sheep mauled to death by two dogs in Hastings has recounted to 1 NEWS the "chilling" moment she found her "woolly friends" dead.
Leg-Up Trust founder and coordinator Ros Rowe, who is the owner of some of the more than 40 sheep killed in the viscous attacks at the weekend, says she is numb after the incident.
The attacks took place in the Bridge Pa area of Hastings.
There were up to eight sheep killed at Valentine Road by dogs unknown. There were 34 sheep killed and 13 injured at Equestrian Lane by two dogs.
"The monetary cost is about $600, but it's the emotional cost - the kids not knowing what happened," she said. "It was quite awful, chilling."
One of two dogs is still on the loose . One was a white and black dog, the other believed to be a black Labrador/bull terrier cross with a white stripe on its chest.
The white and black dog has been caught, seized and impounded – its owner remains unknown to animal control as the dog is unregistered - but animal control officers in the region are still looking for the black dog with the white stripe.
Hastings District Council is investigating the incidents and attempting to make contact with dog owners, a spokesperson told 1 NEWS.
The sheep, which Ms Rowe had raised since birth, were grazing at a neighbouring property when the incident took place on Saturday night. More attacks happened the next night.
The owner of the land discovered the "nasty" finding, describing it to Ms Rowe as a "horrible mess".
"You can imagine how those who knew them felt having to look at those dead eyes," she recalled.
"Our five sheep, plus another belonging to the property owners, suffered a brutal attack by dogs ... in their paddock at our friends' place. Just hours earlier, they'd been peacefully grazing without a care in the world.
"Only Ozzie the goat survived ... She's physically coping but she's not herself."
The goat suffered a deep gash to her neck and had been traumatised since the incident, Ms Rowe says.
It was the first attack at the farm where the sheep were grazing but not the first time Ms Rowe had lost sheep to dog attacks.
"I had an attack a few years ago," she said. "They wiped out our stock."
Since then, Ms Rowe has fenced her 13-acre-property to keep dogs out, but she says it's not realistic for everyone to do the same -especially those with more land.
"It's not really our [stock owners'] responsibility to keep other people's dogs out," she said.
"A lot of dogs are let out at night to roam - getting up to all sports. This time it's really, really bad but it's not the first time."
Once they get a taste for it, there is nothing to stop them going back and killing for stock, Ms Rowe said. She said she felt like her remaining stock were unsafe with the second dog still out there.
"Dog owners, please keep your dogs under control. You have no idea what heartache your roaming mutts cause to stock owners."
She spent most of Sunday burying her pets.
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