A little local trouble A weekly round-up of rural rows

An unusually large fox has been killed in Dyfed after being linked to 15 sheep deaths in two weeks. Farmers at Tregaron feared the animal massacring their sheep might have been a big cat, but this was disproved when it was shot.

One of them, Ednyfed Jones, said: "The record for the heaviest fox in Britain is 27lbs. This one was 21lbs, and farmers in the area have never seen a fox so big." Since the fox's death, there have been no further reports of sheep killings.

Untreated sewage may still be leaking into a river in Clwyd, four years after Welsh Water promised to fit their treatment works with an early warning device. The company admitted "minor pollution" of River Clywedog in 1991, but locals say that the problem continues. Plaid Cymru has had water samples analysed and found bacteria connected with human sewage, such as E.coli and faecal streptococci. However, Welsh Water said that the bacteria do not necessarily come from a sewage plant.

A farmer near Leeds was fined pounds 6,000 as a result of an incident when a small boy fell into a vat of sheep dip on his farm. The dip contains organophosphate insecticide, which has been linked to health problems among farmers, and three-year-old Ryan Ellis was kept in intensive care for four days after the accident in April.