OVAL, Pa. (AP) -- A Lycoming County farmer has lost at least 20 sheep in a single attack by coyotes,

OVAL, Pa. (AP) -- A Lycoming County farmer has lost at least 20 sheep in a single attack by coyotes, one of the worst cases the state has seen in years.
Nathan Welshans said he found 16 of his sheep dead in his fields Monday morning. Since then, four more have died and about a dozen more were injured, he said.
"It's just a big loss to me," Welshans said. "It won't be safe to have sheep around here now."
Rick Burd, director of the Bureau of Dog Law in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, said coyote attacks on such a large scale were not unheard of in Pennsylvania, but they were unusual. Statewide, fewer than 200 sheep were killed by coyotes each year in 2001 and 2002.
Ricky Dietrick, a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer who helped investigate the incident, said there likely were at least 10 coyotes involved in the attack.
"To do this much damage, it was a good-sized gang," Dietrick said. "I would say it was a pack out teaching their young how to hunt. That's what they do."