Dog found in Laois GAA club with 'horrific' neck injuries

A dog that was found gravely injured sheltering in Castletown GAA club on Monday morning, March 11, has been put down.

The Saluki / lurcher type female dog was discovered by the club members at about 10am. 

"Dog at Castletown Gaa pitch. Injured and too scared to be caught," they said on social media.

They alerted both the Laois Dog Pound, and Cara Rescue Dogs charity.

First on the scene within 40 minutes was Laois Dog Warden Tristan Blundell.

He described what he found to the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"I tried to help as quickly as I could. She was sitting up when I got there, but her whole neck was exposed. 

"She had a bad laceration to the throat. Both jugulars were severed, there was a large cavity in her throat.

"I brought her to the vets, and they made the decision that the kindest thing to do was to put her to sleep, because her injuries were so horrific. There was no hope of a full recovery," Mr Blundell said.

"It was the vet's decision and his right to take it. You don't like doing it, but the injuries were so severe it wasn't fixable," he said.

"It is hard to say what caused it. She could have got it caught on a galvanised sheet. There was metal there as it is a building site," he said.

He reminds the public of his role.

"I only hold stray dogs in our kennels in hope people will adopt them. If people find a stray they are required to tell the pound so we can give it back to the owner, and record it in a register. My job is to bring them either to the vet or to the pound, and to ensure that all dogs have ID chips, collars and licences so at least they can be sent back home," the dog warden said.

Cara Rescue Dogs, a Midlands charity based in Mountmellick, say they are "hugely upset" at the death of the dog.

"This was a beautiful young dog. It makes us sick to our stomach. We'd like to know what happened. Anyone who rings us will be kept in complete confidence.

"It brings us back to Taylor, one of the early dogs we rescued. Taylor had his throat slit but survived. We helped him back to health and he is still alive now and living in Sweden, where they thave fantastic dog laws. 

"We do our utmost to save every animal. You would not volunteer for this for the past 13 years and not be passionate about it," volunteer Lorraine said.