The parish took to social media to ask people not to let dogs run free in fields they own, even though there were no cows in them at the time, as a parasite that can be found in dog excrement is known to cause stillbirths in cattle.
Constable Dave Beausire said he was a dog owner himself, and agreed that it was good to let dogs be allowed to run free from time to time.
‘But just use your common sense – don’t let your dogs in fields where cows graze, as there faeces can have serious repercussions for the livestock,’ he said.
‘We are very lucky in Guernsey that we have loads of places, like beaches and the cliff paths, where dogs can come off the lead so there is no reason to use fields.’
The microscopic parasite called neospora caninum causes a condition in cattle called neosporosis.
It accounts for 12.5% of UK abortions in cattle but also causes losses through reduced milk yields and increased culling rates.
The neospora parasite is particularly serious because infected animals remain infected for life.
Cows may abort more than once and any live calves they produce may be born infected, allowing infection to be passed from generation to generation.
While infection is common in dogs, which act as the natural host, they rarely show signs of illness.
However the parasite can cause neuromuscular problems for dogs, particularly in puppies under six months of age.
At present, there is no practical treatment for infection with the neospora parasite in cattle or dogs.
The social media post from St Martin’s came after a dairy farmer in St Andrew’s had posted a similar warning at the gate of one of his fields after seeing dogs in the field, which is used to make silage to feed dairy cows.
‘This has a significant impact on animal welfare and the farm,’ they said. ‘We’d really appreciate everyone’s help in respecting this and keeping out of fields going forward.’
You need to be logged in to comment.