NO ONE who has witnessed first hand or seen pictures of some of the more recent sheep worrying incidents will fail to have been moved by them. That's why we're trying to do something about it.

Clearly, there needs to be a change in the law, or at least a hardening of attitudes by the judiciary in this matter. We are launching our 'Take a lead on responsible dog ownership' campaign this week to try and back up the pressure already bearing down on government from the likes of NFU Scotland and the National Sheep Association.

According to the NFU Mutual insurance business, there has been a three-fold increase in claims arising from sheep worrying in the past three years – they now total at least £1.6m. However, farming leaders are worried that a lot of cases go unreported and that the true figures behind livestock worrying are unclear.

We hope to shed some light on this by asking our readers to fill in a short survey, from which we hope to ascertain more meaningful figures. Please, if you have had experience of sheep worrying, then fill in our very short online questionnaire at www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/takealeadsurvey/

More importantly, we are asking you to support our campaign for changes to the law which might encourage dog owners to be more careful around livestock. At the least, this should take into account reparation to affected farmers and the destruction of the dog.

We ask for your support in the matter but realise that, as those involved in rural industries, we are already leaning against an open door on this subject. However, we still need your support and ask that you fill in our petition and spin this request out as far as your can in your circle of colleagues and friends. The more support we get, the stronger the message the industry can take to government.

With that in mind, The Scottish Farmer also hopes to get the message across in a much wider sense through our publisher's network of 20-plus newspapers throughout Scotland and the North of England. This should propel the issue into the realms of the people who really need to support this message – the general public. We are confident that the majority of responsible dog owners will support our campaign and pay heed to its objectives.

Let us hope that we can all look forward to a day when we do not have to see any more pictures of sheep that have been savaged by domestic pets.

* Please take time to sign our online petition at www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/takealead/