Collies’ Fate Symbol of Farm Crisis

Britain’s proud farming tradition has few more recognizable icons than the border collie, the loyal black-and-white dog nipping at the heels of the herd, seamlessly carrying out his master’s intricate commands.

Sadly, the border collie has come to symbolize the farming industry’s deepening crisis, as thousands of the sheepherding dogs are abandoned, turned over to rescue centers or killed by farmers who no longer can afford to keep them.

As a result, rescue centers around the country are taking in staggering numbers--dogs that often are starving, neglected and wary of strangers.

Volunteers for the Border Collie Trust charity are making several trips a week to rural Wales to pick up stray and unwanted dogs, as opposed to the usual one trip a month, said the group’s coordinator, Jenny Booth.

“At one time, you might have been offered six or seven dogs a week,” she said. “We’re probably being offered 20 to 30 dogs a week now.”

Another charity, Animal Samaritans Midland Trust, took in 380 unwanted border collies last year. It has already eclipsed that number this year.

“You’re afraid to pick the telephone up because you never know what you’re going to find,” said Caroline James, who runs the Animal Samaritans’ rescue shelter near Shrewsbury, in the rural English Midlands bordering Wales.

Proper food and veterinary care for working dogs is not a priority for beleaguered farmers, who barely have the money to feed their families or repair broken-down machinery, thanks mostly to the strong British pound making their products--everything from wool to wheat--too pricey for the rest of the world.

Farmers with small spreads find it hard to compete against major industrialized operations, and the “mad cow” scare that turned the world off to British beef hurt cattle prices.

Some farmers think one way to save money is to do away with their unwanted dogs--usually with a bullet in the head, instead of a painless death at the vet’s office, James said.

“They say, ‘It costs 11 pence for a bullet, and 30 or 40 pounds to put them to sleep,’ ” she explained, comparing 20 cents to $50 to $65.

Since farmers usually don’t stop their dogs from breeding, border collies are plentiful and cheap.

Their popularity was boosted by a long-running weekly television show about a sheep dog called “One Man and His Dog” and further fueled by the 1995 movie “Babe,” about a sheepherding pig adopted by border collies.

But some people who take the dogs home as pets become exasperated by the amount of exercise and mental stimulation the intelligent, energetic animals need, the shelter coordinators say.

A 1996 survey showed about 10,000 border collies needing homes in Britain, and the situation has since worsened, said Mike Cooke, whose Border Collie Rescue in northern England took in about 350 dogs last year.

“We’re being asked to take in more,” Cooke said, “and the farm situation is not helping.”