ANIMALS dumped next to Wiltshire roads may have been put there as a result of new European regulations.

Over the last week Wiltshire County Council has had eight reports of sheep being found dumped in the north of the county.

Trading Standards manager Steve Clover said: "The law changed at the beginning of the month to ban unauthorised burial of fallen stock.

"Before that, for hundreds of years, farmers have been able to bury animals on their land.

"We are concerned that farmers are dumping these animals rather than paying to have them collected."

The maximum fine for dumping an animal is £5,000.

Mr Clover said he is keen to encourage farmers to sign up to a subsidised animal collection service currently being organised by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The other option is for animals to be taken to a registered rendering plant or to a hunt kennel where they can still legally be used as feed for the hounds.

The cost of signing up with the proposed DEFRA collection scheme is between £50 and £200.

But whether or not the scheme goes ahead is dependent on 50 per cent of farmers nationwide signing up to it.

A DEFRA spokeswoman said: "It is illegal to bury animals on the farm and illegal to dump them.

"I haven't heard of this happening anywhere else in the country.

"We would urge farmers to sign up to the collection scheme which is being organised."