Less than two months after a lamb was left “mangled” at a farm at Godolphin, a ewe has been mauled to death leading to a renewed plea for dog owners to keep their pets on leads.

Ruth and Mark Pascoe, who lease land on the Godolphin Estate where they keep sheep, were alerted to the latest attack on Saturday morning after the dead ewe was discovered by walkers.

It appears the animal, which had not long given birth to two lambs, had had its throat torn open by, it is claimed, more than one dog.

“The ewe was between 60 and 65 kilos so it would probably have taken more than one big dog to bring her down,” said Mrs Pascoe. “She was found on the footpath where people walk.

“We just want people to be made aware of what dogs can do. People just let them off their leads and allow them to run free which I can understand, but they need to realise the damage they can do.”

Mr Pascoe had fed the sheep at about 10am on Saturday and they got the call concerning the attack at around 1pm. “There were no witnesses this time,” said Mrs Pascoe.

In February, the owner of a dog which had attacked a lamb, tearing one of |its ears off, footed the bill for the veterinary care that was required, but this time the Pascoes have no idea whose dogs were responsible.

“There just seems to be a lot of this sort of thing going on this year and we want people to be aware,” said Mrs Pascoe.