The Livestock Protection Officer’s role isn’t easy. Funded by Dartmoor Livestock Protection Society and Dartmoor Commoners’ Council, Karla McKechnie is on call 24/7 to deal with cases of injured livestock. One cause of serious injury is road collisions, and at this time of year livestock is often drawn to the road. Karla explains that as temperatures start to drop, the road retains more heat and as a result, cattle, ponies and sheep lie on it. They also like the mineral in the salt when roads are gritted; this can be more concentrated around cats’ eyes, drawing animals further into the road. Sadly, there have been 142 road traffic collisions involving animals on Dartmoor this year. This doesn’t include unreported incidents, where animals are often hit and then left to stagger off and die a painful death.
“The impact of a collision with a car is nearly always fatal for an animal,” says Karla. “Sadly, broken legs often won’t heal properly, resulting in us having to euthanise. The situation is horrific for the animals, but the farmers of course suffer too. One local farmer recently had five animals hit within 10 days. It’s even worse when people don’t report an incident. We found a pony attempting to walk on broken legs, on exposed bone. It must have been in excruciating pain, but somebody left it to suffer rather than call it in.”
Please report animal collisions, injured livestock or incidents of sheep worrying to Karla McKechnie on 07873 587561. Karla appreciates that people might panic after colliding with an animal and emphasises that you can also call 999 anonymously to report a collision or road obstruction, even without a phone signal.