Ōrewa sheep killed in dog attack

Overnight on August 17, all five sheep that the Knox family had on their 1ha property in Ōrewa were attacked by dogs.

Trevor and Jo Knox were shocked and upset the next morning to find that three of their sheep had been killed outright and two so severely injured that they had to be euthanised. 

“The bodies were scattered around the paddock,” Trevor says. “Clearly our sheep had been chased. They had been attacked around their faces and necks.”

It is the second time this has happened – around eight years ago, two of the Knox’s sheep were killed by a dog.

The couple has lived on their block in West Hoe Heights for 20 years and seen huge residential development on the hills and valleys around them, including around 400 homes to be built in Strathmill on their back boundary.

Trevor says as a result, the family will not replace their sheep, which were kept as “lawnmowers” and a friendly rural presence.

“Urban sprawl has meant it’s not safe for livestock now,” he says. “Every home that goes in potentially has a dog that could get through, or over, our fences.”

The family want to thank Brett Finlayson of Ōrewa Vet Hospital for coming out and euthanising the sheep. The team working on the Strathmill development, including Dines Civil, were also a great help, providing a digger and burying the sheep.

Animal Control officers could do nothing because there were no witnesses, Trevor says, but they took DNA from the sheep.