Sheep left with ‘strange injuries’ after being ‘spooked’ in Herne Bay

Sheep have been injured after being “spooked” in a suspected night-time attack at an animal sanctuary.

Jo Hogbin, a volunteer at Herne Bay’s Retreat Into Wonderland, says one animal sustained trauma to its leg and another to its neck.

She said it appeared the sheep had been spooked between Saturday evening and Sunday morning, prompting volunteers to notify police.

Describing upsetting scenes when arriving the morning after the suspected incident, Ms Hogbin said: “I knew someone had been in and something had happened.

“I woke up to a picture of one of our sheep, Mabel, lying on the floor. We got her up but her head was flopping down.

“Another sheep, Ollie, was standing but his back leg was swinging – it looked broken and we couldn’t get him to move.

“The thing that got me the most upset was that the whole sanctuary was silent.”

A duck was also found to have escaped after its runner cage had been left open.

The 54-year-old, who says the animals are usually bright and energetic each morning, promptly contacted the vet.

“The vets said the injuries were odd,” she continued.

“With Ollie’s leg, they said it seemed like a spooking injury, so he had been spooked by something.

“I know there were fireworks going off in Greenhill the night before, but our animals don’t get scared by this sort of thing – they’re used to all kinds of loud noises.

“I also know it can’t have been another animal like a fox or a dog because they wouldn’t have these injuries – they’d have bite marks or scratches.”

While Ollie’s leg was injured, Mabel, who was unable to stand, appeared to have an abscess on her neck which, Miss Hogbin explained, was not there the day before when she left at 4pm.

“She was fine the day before,” the volunteer explained.

“She couldn’t even lift her head, which the vet said was not normal. He thinks this was a spooking injury too.

“I hand on heart say someone has been in and with Mabel, she’s standing but I don’t know how she’s going to go. She’s drinking but he can’t get any food down her and she looks vacant.

“It’s really sad because we’ve had her since she was one day old.

“All our animals are so tame and it’s like a little family here. All the volunteers are just in bits.

“If someone had come in, the only two sheep that would go up to them would have been Ollie and Mabel and they’re the two who are injured – it’s definitely people that have come in and no coincidence.”

Following the distressing incident, Miss Hogbin launched a fundraising page in a bid to help during an already busy season.

But, she said she does not like asking for money.

“It’s a busy season anyway – our emergency hedgehog phone is going off all the time,” she said.

“We have a lot of animals who are on daily medication and lots of costs, like rent, food, hay. It costs a fortune.

“I don’t like asking for money but we were really scraping by.”

After seeing the fundraiser someone has also donated a CCTV kit to the sanctuary, as they only have cameras at one part of the site which did not pick up anything from this incident.

“I’m going to have cameras everywhere,” she said.

“If you had stood in here on Sunday, anyone would have been able to tell something had happened. It was really horrible.

“I’m just glad I have cameras now.”

She added that recently, there had been odd incidents of people getting onsite without permission.

“A couple of weeks ago, one of our volunteers was leaving and could see a guy outside who was looking in a field and then into the front of the site,” she said.

“She walked back to her car and didn’t hear him but he was standing right behind her which spooked her a bit.

“I then said to a couple of the girls I didn’t want them getting in first on their own – I wanted to be here too just in case.

“Also recently, one of the volunteer's dad drove past and there were two guys standing in one of the fields which has made me think it’s all a bit odd.”

A spokesman for the force, said: “Kent Police was called at 10.33am on Wednesday 3 July to report that two sheep had been injured at a premises on Bullockstone Road, Herne Bay, between the afternoon of Saturday 29 June and the morning of Sunday 30 June.

“Anyone with information to assist officers’ enquiries into the incident should contact Kent Police quoting 03-0337.”