SIR, – In 1999 I moved from Lancashire to Wooler via Coldstream and Carfraemill, both places surrounded, as is Wooler, of beautiful scenery.

Last week I came across my twelfth sheep trapped in a fence by its horns with its two lambs lying at its side. Like all the others with one exception, it had its eyes pecked out.

The one exception on the outskirts of Wooler could see okay, but, it took me all of five minutes and two swollen fingers to extricate it from the wire.

I'm from Manchester so never really came across any sheep but my question is, are the horns on sheep serving a useful purpose?

I do see the occasional walking stick but nothing else. Surely if they were cut off, the farmers would know to what length, many sheep lives could be saved.

The now dead sheep and its two lambs were rather friendly and all three made friends with the collie pup. It just seems an unnecessary waste of good farm life.

Richard Grant

31 The Martins,

Wooler