‘A horror show’: Dog attack claims the lives of three alpacas on a farm in Sask.

Warning: The details of this story may be disturbing to some readers.

A local alpaca farmer near Pike Lake, Saskatchewan, is living his worst nightmare after two dogs attacked his herd, killing three alpacas and injuring many more.

“It was a horror show,” said Rick Derksen, owner of High Plains Alpacas.

Derksen said the herd alerted him to the attack, which occurred around 8 p.m. Monday.

“Alpacas make a characteristic distress call when threatened by animals,” he said. “We ran, but it was too late. Two of them had already been killed and a third was attacked from the front and back.”

The attack took Derksen and his family by surprise, despite the security cameras on the property. It traumatized them – and the rest of the herd.

“We are psychologically torn about these alpacas that we have raised since they were children,” said Derksen. “The herd is extremely traumatized. Normally they go to a pasture far away from this area, but they don't go any further because they are too scared.”

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Derkson also said his family is having sleepless nights because of the threat to the herd. “It has completely ruined our lives. I have another business that I can't even focus on.”

“I have to call these people… I can't produce anything for them. And that's because now we have to stay with our herd all the time to try to rescue them in case these dogs come back, because these dogs have not been found or cared for yet.”

Derksen said the two dogs he believes were responsible for the attack were reported to authorities over a year ago because they posed a threat to livestock in the area. Where they came from is unclear.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) of Saskatchewan could not comment on the attack, but said it had been notified.

The incident came shortly after other similar attacks in towns such as Allan, Saskatchewan, where the RCMP said they received six reports of attacks by a single pack of native dogs.

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