Għarb shepherd Ġanni Attard yesterday filed an urgent application before the Gozo courts asking for the suspension of any decision to cull his herd of sheep.

In his application, filed before Madam Justice Anna Felice, the shepherd said he had been approached by someone he did not know who told him of plans to cull his sheep today.

He asked for the suspension of the decision pending the outcome of his constitutional case, which he had filed in a bid to save his sheep.

He had resorted to this measure following the decision of a lower court to dismiss his bid for an injunction after he failed to comply with a legal requirement to register the sheep.

Later yesterday, Mr Attard filed a police report in which he asked Inspector Bernard Charles Spiteri to take immediate action and inform the Commissioner for Animal Welfare about the matter.

Mr Attard insisted there was no law which allowed for the killing of animals without a valid reason and there was no court order for the sheep to be culled.