THE PEACE has been shattered at an urban farm after a pet dog savaged four chickens.

Now Matt Holland, owner of Lower Shaw Farm, is calling on dog owners to make sure their animals are properly trained.

Mr Holland is best known as the founder of the annual Swindon Festival of Literature, the most recent of which ran for the first 17 days of last month and attracted speakers including Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, Edwina Curry and Kate Adie.

The owner of the dog has been contacted and is understood to have offered Mr Holland compensation.

Mr Holland says he will not be contacting police or asking for the dog to be put down.

The attack happened at 4pm on Monday, but Mr Holland and his family did not hear it because they were shearing a flock of sheep at the time.

He said: "The first I knew of it was when of my daughters came home from school and told me that a man had one of our chickens which had been hit by a car.

"As soon as I came round the corner I knew what had happened. There were no chickens around and they usually roam freely through the farm.

"The dog was here for about 15 minutes and killed four chickens. We breed our own chickens and some were rare breeds.

"We have had attacks from foxes before, but when a fox attacks it will only take one to feed its young, so while it isn't very nice you can cope with it. Dogs are not as adept at killing as foxes, so they are very savage."

The farm is popular with the town's schools and is also a venue for residential and learning breaks for adults and young people.

The farm, in the middle of the Shaw housing estate, has its own vegetable, herb, and flower gardens, many native shrubs and trees, living willow structures, ponds and black mountain sheep as well as the poultry and ducks.

The free range chickens usually roam the farm but Mr Holland said their behaviour had changed since the attack.

"They go up into a high place or hide away," he explained.

"At first we thought up to a dozen had been killed but by dusk more and more started to return, and we were incredibly relieved when they came back.

"We do not bear any malice towards the dog, because it didn't know its owner wasn't looking after it properly.

"We contacted the owner and she apologised. We do not want to go to the police and have the animal put down at all, but we have given her the details of a very good dog trainer."

www.lowershawfarm.co.uk