Farmers in the idyllic village of Mġarr have awoken to the horror of finding their sheep butchered by wild dogs almost every morning during the past week.

At least 16 sheep have been killed at six farms and many others were injured, according to several reports by residents and farmers.

“It started on the eve of Independence Day, when it was practically impossible to find an available vet,” said Tessie Bugeja, a concerned farmer’s wife who spoke to The Times.

“My husband keeps sheep at the farm, in an enclosed pen, which is like a yard. He went there on Thursday morning and told me the sheep had been fighting. I said: that’s impossible, sheep never fight!

“Then a friend called him and told him they were attacked by dogs... and they must have been very ferocious dogs because their wounds are frightful,” she said, adding that they would have had to jump over a four-course wall to reach the sheep.

One of the sheep died of its wounds and two others are still having their wounds treated.

Word around the village spread quickly and the Bugeja family was informed of similar incidents that happened the day after their attack.

“Then there were two quiet days and the dogs attacked again, killing another two sheep of one of our friends. I saw the sheep myself. It was horrifying how they were ripped apart. And that same day they attacked again. And yet again last night, there were two more attacks.”

She said around seven attacks had happened in all, though she was quickly losing count.

“I heard they might be descendants of wolves because they are acting like a pack of wolves: attacking to kill, but not to eat. They attack and flee.”

“We don’t remember anything like it, not even in his father’s time. Nothing like this has ever happened to us before,” she said.

The Times spoke to another farmer, Jason Vella, who said the farmers all over the village were dreading the mornings, fearing their pens have been attacked.

“Sheep are being killed and cut to pieces,” he said, adding that the incidents had been reported to the police and the local council as well as the Animal Welfare Department.

His sister, Joanne Vella, wrote to timesofmalta.com to say the death of 10 pregnant sheep cost her brother around €2,500, over and above the medical expenses he had to incur to treat the injured sheep, which may still die from trauma.