Rural Crime - Your Dog, your responsibility

On March 18th 2026, new legislation came into force across England and Wales to tackle livestock worrying by dogs. Police now have access to much tougher penalties and improved police powers.

In summary, an offence can be committed if your dog:

Please keep in mind that your dog chasing or frightening animals is enough to commit and offence.

The law now includes:

Fields (farmland), public footpaths and roads and right of ways near livestock.

Livestock includes sheep, cattle, goats, pigs, poultry but now also includes alpacas, llamas, horses, ponies, donkeys, farmed deer and enclosed game birds such as pheasants, partridges and grouse.

Sanctions now include -

This law is about protecting farm animals, preventing suffering and supporting our farmers.

Please note that farmers have the legal right to shoot any dogs who are in the act of attacking or worrying livestock.

We all love our dogs so please keep your dogs on leads when walking in the countryside and especially around cattle. The last thing anybody wants is our pets to get seriously injured or worse over something that could be easily avoided.