NFU MUTUAL is urging dog owners visiting the countryside this Easter to keep their pets on the lead to avoid attacks on sheep and lambs.

Recent figures from the UK’s leading rural insurer, NFU Mutual, estimate that farm animals worth £1.95 million were severely injured or killed in dog attacks in 2025, a rise of 10 per cent compared to the previous year.

NFU Mutual Rural Affairs Specialist, Hannah Binns, said: “The Easter holidays present a great opportunity to explore and appreciate the UK countryside, but people must remember that these iconic landscapes are working environments, key to farmers’ livelihoods and home to millions of sheep and new-born lambs.

“As a sheep farmer, I’m well aware of the hard-work, time and emotion which goes into the lambing season, so it can be utterly heartbreaking for farmers and their families to witness these horrific incidents and deal with the aftermath.”

This data coincides with findings from an NFU Mutual survey released in advance of this Easter period, which revealed how 57 per cent let their dogs off leads in the countryside, yet, worryingly, one in ten admitted that their dog has no recall, and 44 per cent said their dogs come back only “some” or “most of the time”.

Even though one in 20 dog owners confessed their dogs had chased livestock, 72 per cent highlighted they were not actively taking steps to prevent their dogs doing this, and almost two-thirds said they do not believe their dogs are capable of harming or killing animals.

This comes as the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) Act comes into force this Easter season, which grants police enhanced powers to address dog attacks on farm animals in England and Wales.

NFU Mutual is urging the thousands of dog owners planning to take their dogs to the countryside to keep their pets on leads.