An Ipswich woman has urged dog owners to be more considerate when letting their pets off leads after an alpaca was put down following an attack on her farm.

East Anglian Daily Times: Liz Marley with Galaxy. The photo won 'animal that most resembles its owner' at last year's Suffolk Smallholders Produce Show.Liz Marley with Galaxy. The photo won 'animal that most resembles its owner' at last year's Suffolk Smallholders Produce Show. (Image: Archant)

Liz Marley, who lives at Poppies Care Farm in Purdis Heath, found one of her five alpacas, Galaxy, injured in a field on Saturday morning.

Ms Marley, who has lived in the area with her husband Lee Smith for four years, went out to tend to the injured animal, who was about 16 years old.

She said: “Galaxy was the oldest alpaca we had. Everyone was fond of him.”

It is believed Galaxy, who was grandfather to two other alpacas on the farm, had laid injured in the field overnight after being mauled by a dog the previous evening. He was put down by a vet.

East Anglian Daily Times: Lee Smith feeds his four remaining alpacas the day after Galaxy had to be put down after being attacked by a dog Friday night.Lee Smith feeds his four remaining alpacas the day after Galaxy had to be put down after being attacked by a dog Friday night.

Ms Marley said: “Galaxy was sitting in the wrong field. He had blood on his front leg and I thought maybe he had jumped a fence, although alpacas don’t normally jump unless they are being attacked.

“It was a pretty horrific attack. People don’t know what they are doing when their dogs are off the leash.

“The dog owner must have known something had happened .because the dog would have come back with blood around its mouth and muzzle. The owner may have even had to come on to the farm and call the dog off.”

Ms Marley said dogs had been on to the farm before, but she or Mr Smith had always been at hand to scare them off.

“We used to have our chickens free range but they kept getting attacked so we built a 6ft fence around them.We have 20 chickens, but at our peak we had around 70.”

Ms Marley said police would be contacting vets in the area to see if any dogs had been treated for a kick from an alpaca.

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