Sheep farmers based in Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, Eamonn and Niamh Monahan, are continuing to gather data on dog attacks to present to government after their fourth attack in five years.

The father and daughter described "scenes of devastation" across their land last month when five pedigree texel sheep were killed, with four of the ewes due to lamb in the next two weeks. Another four sheep had to be recovered from a drain which they were chased into.

The video below contains graphic and disturbing images of sheep following a dog attack.

Eamonn described the "carnage" upon arriving to the farm to find their sheep dead and injured around the land, with the attack having “wiped out 25%” of their breeding ewes.

He said that even a month on from the tragic day, "it's hard to imagine the destruction" that was caused in what they said was such a short space of time.

Niamh said that the family "didn't know where to turn" initially, and while they received much support from An Garda Síochána and the local dog warden, that there did not appear to be "much awareness" within the general public that the attacks were happening.

Niamh shared the incident and graphic imagery on social media, and received responses from "every corner of Ireland" from farmers who had similar attacks of their land or cases of dog worrying.

From there, she created an anonymous, online survey to gather statistics on dog attacks on flocks nationwide, which she said got a "phenomenal" response.

A total of 558 farmers answered the survey, with the results showing that 409 have experienced dog attacks on their flocks. Among those who completed the survey, 88% of hill sheep farmers and 82% of lowland sheep farmers reported incidents of dog attacks on their flocks.

To build on these findings, Niamh is now conducting a new survey (below) to gather more detailed information on dog attacks on sheep flocks in Ireland.

The survey builds on detail for those who have faced attacks, asking anonymous questions about how many sheep were killed in the attack, the estimated financial loss, and whether any compensation was received.

Niamh said it is “so much more” than the five sheep that were killed on the day of the attack. The Monahans have been left with the emotional and financial burden, including the loss of nine lambs that were due to be born.

"We have a very good support network, but all we could think about is imagine some of those farmers who are maybe farming full-time, this is their full source of income, this is their livelihood, and it being wiped out within a matter of minutes," Niamh said.

The farmers will use the results of both surveys in discussion with government members about what possible changes could be implemented to alleviate some of the pressure from farmers all around the country.

Eamonn mentioned possible ideas which he will bring to government attention, such as giving more power to dog wardens, the possibility of genotyping dogs, and getting true statistics through adding a "tick the box" element to censorship forms for farmers to state if they had sheep attacked by dogs.

Niamh's survey is currently available across social media and she has encouraged as many sheep farmers as possible to fill it out for true statistics.