By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Three attacks by dogs in the past week have raised concerns around the county.

Two German shepherds running loose badly mauled a Peabody woman’s sheep last Wednesday. She’s worried other animals or children might be in danger.

A 6-year-old boy was bitten Monday while riding his bike in Marion.

A Hillsboro woman was bitten last Tuesday while walking past a dog that escaped its fenced yard.

In Peabody, one pregnant ewe died in the attack, and another pregnant ewe lost its twin lambs when it went into labor after being bitten on the left haunches and leg.

Authorities and townspeople searched for the dogs that attacked Marilyn Jones’s ewes, but nobody could locate them.

Deputy Bruce Burke told her two German shepherds had been spotted running north of Peabody, Jones said.

Her dog alerted her that something was going on near the sheep. Checking, she found two dogs chewing on a ewe in the pen.

The ewe, pregnant with twins, was dead, one of its legs chewed off. Its twin lambs also died because of the attack, Jones said.

She didn’t discover the second ewe the dogs had attacked until later that day, when she went inside a barn.

“They must have gone into the barn and gotten her,” Jones said.

That ewe, chewed on her left rear quarters, was in labor when Jones found her. Jones tried to assist the ewe by pulling the lambs but had to call a veterinarian to help.

“She got them out, but they were dead,” Jones said.

The German shepherds looked well cared for, not lean and hungry, Jones said.

“They’re just killing for pleasure,” she said.

She said she was worried they would attack other animals or possibly children.

“The problem is, once they get in that mode,” Jones said.

Last Tuesday, a Hillsboro woman was bitten as she walked past a fenced-in yard and a dog inside managed to come out and nip her on the leg.

Hillsboro Police Chief Jessey Hiebert said the bite did not break the skin, but a bruise was visible.

“There was evidence,” Hiebert said. “The owner was cited for having a dog at large and harboring a vicious animal.”

Hiebert said he was not interested in making dog owners pay fines but in solving the problem of what happens when a dog gets loose.

A 6-year-old Marion boy riding his bike in the 100 block of S. Roosevelt St. in Marion was bitten Monday by a 2-year-old male Belgian Malinois that escaped its yard when it jumped or climbed a six-foot privacy fence.

The boy had a puncture on his arm, interim Police Chief Zach Hudlin said.

The boy was frightened by the bite but wasn’t sure if the dog had “attacked” him, Hudlin said.

“He was scared,” Hudlin said.

The boy’s parents weren’t sure whether to take the boy to get medical attention but later took him to St. Luke Hospital where the bite was cleaned.

The dog was quarantined for 10 days.

Hudlin said it was the first time police had been notified of a dog bite at that address.