4 Sheep Found Mauled; 3 Die

OJAI —  For the past five months, Ojai teenager Nicole Reyes mothered a small black-faced lamb named Moe in preparation for the upcoming Ventura County Fair.

Every day, she fed and walked him, quickly falling in love with his frisky personality and soft brown eyes.

And although she had braced herself for the reality that Moe would soon be sold at market, nothing could prepare her for the horror of finding him torn to pieces this weekend along with three badly mauled sheep that authorities suspect were all attacked by a pair of marauding dogs.

“I knew I’d have to lose him, but . . . ,” the 15-year-old said Monday, trying to hold her emotions in check. “He was alive when they were ripping him. It’s pretty gross. . . . I was still really attached to him.”

The four sheep were attacked Sunday inside a livestock pen at a ranch just a few miles from Nordhoff High School along California 33.

Both the Ventura County Department of Animal Regulation and the Humane Society are investigating the killings and have set traps inside the blood-stained sheep pens in hopes of catching the dogs.

In the meantime, Nicole’s father said he fears the dogs could attack again. He plans to hire a tracker and has vowed not to rest until the canines are caught.

“I’m not going to give up until I find those dogs,” said Italo Reyes, a 4-H advisor who was raised on a horse ranch in Peru and has worked around livestock his entire life.

“They’ve tasted blood,” he said of the dogs that attacked his family’s sheep. “And now they can be dangerous to children.”

The four sheep that were mauled were all being raised as part of a local 4-H program, although 108-pound Moe was the only lamb being prepped for next month’s fair.

Moe’s mother, a 4-year-old, 230-pound ewe named Valentine, also was killed by the dogs. Bow, a ram the same age and size that Reyes’ family planned to breed with her next year, had to be euthanized after sustaining deep lacerations to the neck and hindquarters.

The only surviving sheep was Sweet Pea, a 90-pound lamb that also sustained cuts to her hind legs, ears and neck. She is not expected to live.

Although the animals were protected by a chain-link and synthetic fencing, Reyes found shallow holes beneath the fence where he suspects the dogs got in. Reyes boards his sheep and some other animals at the ranch.

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At about 10 a.m. Sunday, a woman who rents a house near the pens said she saw two dogs chasing the sheep from outside the fence. Her landlord, Carl Sigur, said he saw similar dogs on the same property about three days ago.

When Nicole arrived to walk her sheep at 1 p.m. Sunday, she found Moe lying dead on his back with his chest torn open. The other three sheep were bleeding badly, and she ran to call for help.

Valentine died before Ojai veterinarian Matt Bailey could get there. Bailey spent more than four hours working on the two remaining sheep, and was only able to save one.

“They had lots of puncture wounds and bite marks near their ears and neck, which is pretty typical” of dog attacks, he said.

After calling Bailey, Reyes contacted a friend who he thought might also be able to help--Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury. The prosecutor took pictures of the slain sheep to document what happened. “It was pretty traumatic,” Bradbury said Monday. “It just kills me to see animals hurt like that.”

While agreeing that the mauling incidents were severe, Bailey and Bradbury questioned whether the dogs would attack other animals or even children after “tasting blood” as Reyes suggested.

“I think that gets a little blown out of proportion,” Bailey said. “They may be likely to go after animals again, but I don’t think they would necessarily be going out after children.

“But,” he added, “I also would not be leaving my kids around there.”

Authorities do not suspect coyotes or other wild predators in the slaughter because of the dog sightings before the attacks and the random manner in which the sheep were killed.

Norma Worley, a supervising animal regulation officer, said a coyote would probably have tried to drag a sheep away to eat it rather than just tear it up.

Worley is hopeful officials will find the dogs and their owners. They are looking for large husky-type dogs and have asked around the nearby area for dogs matching that description.

“I have a pretty good feeling about this,” she said.

If the animals are caught, the Reyes family could bring civil charges against the owners under a county animal nuisance ordinance, Worley said. In such a case, testimony would be presented by both sides and a hearing officer would determine the appropriate steps to stop the nuisance, she said.

“That can range, depending on the evidence, from the dogs never being allowed to leave the yard again, all the way up to euthanasia,” she said.

In a county that still boasts rural areas like this one, Worley said such incidents are not uncommon, but tragic just the same.

For the Reyes family, the attacks mean the loss of three, and probably four, valuable sheep, including top breeding stock. Reyes had planned to donate baby lambs from Valentine and Bow to local youths who want to join 4-H but cannot afford to pay the $150 to $200 needed to buy a young sheep. Now those plans are on hold.

Bradbury, who has been a leading supporter of local 4-H programs, said he hoped the community would lend financial support to the Reyeses so they could continue to participate and improve the program.

“If anybody wants to help out, they can funnel donations through this office,” he said. “It is absolutely the most wonderful program I can think of to keep kids out of trouble.”

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For Nicole, Moe’s death ended her first attempt at raising a lamb for the fair. She said she wants to be a veterinarian and had planned to use the proceeds from the sale of her sheep for a college fund.

Now, Nicole said she is unsure whether she wants to raise another lamb.

“I’d be here every single day to walk him,” she said of Moe, standing next to his empty pen. “He was really sweet.”