Shannon O’Brien

My name is Shannon O’Brien, my family owns a grass-fed lamb farm in Stratham, NH. We currently employ two livestock guardian dogs on the farm who live full-time with the sheep on pasture. In the fall of 2021 our flock was attacked by coyotes and we lost 45% of our livestock over a 5 night period. Since adding the dogs to our pasture, we have not had an event like this since. Having livestock guardian dogs has allowed us to coexist with the coyotes and other predators, instead of exterminating them and therefore destroying the natural balance of the ecosystem. If NH HB1133 is passed, our dogs’ first line defense against predators- barking- will be criminalized and they will not be able to perform their job, this will eventually cause our farm to lose enough livestock to shut our operations down. Please support the most ecological and ethical method of predator control and do not pass NH HB1133.