Appeal for information after '11 lambs had their necks broke' and 2 were probably strangled in Rostrevor farm weekend attack
An appeal has been made for anyone with information about the deaths of 13 lambs in Rostrevor to report it to the PSNI.
The farmer who owned the livestock has said the incident was "the worst thing I could ever imagine".
Their bodies were found on the Rostrevor farm ln Saturday morning – and were believed to have been killed sometime between 7pm on Friday and 7.45am on Saturday.
Farmer Kevin McGivern told the BBC that he found out when he arrived on Saturday at 8am.
"At least 11 had their necks broke, the others were probably strangled," McGivern said.
The farmer added that when the PSNI arrived at the scene on the Drumsesk Road in Rostrevor, Co Down ‘it was like a crime scene, really’.
McGivern said he is planning to take some of the sheep who lost their lambs up to his farmyard.
There, he will try to adopt lambs onto the sheep, something he described as a "very difficult job".
"It's sort of like a welfare issue to relieve the ewes of the milk. Hopefully, if they adopt another lamb it makes the ewe feel better, it's the best of a bad job."
PSNI Insp Reynolds described the incident as a "shocking crime".
"It appears that their necks had been deliberately broken," Insp Reynolds said.
"We would be keen to hear from anyone who noticed anything unusual in the area during the times above."
Meanwhile, Councillor Jarlath Tinnelly said: ‘Any person who would climb a gate into a field @ 3 o’clock in the morning with a bucket of meal to entice recently born lambs towards them before proceeding to break the neck and slaughter 13 of them is depraved and clearly sick in the head.
‘Yet that is exactly what Kevin McGivern believes happened to his flock on Friday night / Saturday morning @ Drumsesk, Rostrevor.
‘My heart goes out to Kevin & Niall for coming across what must have been a harrowing sight on Saturday morning and any right minded person would unequivocally condemn this reprehensible act of cruelty.
‘I would appeal to anyone who may know anything about this horrific incident to contact the PSNI @101 to help them catch and prosecute whomever carried out such an appalling act’.