Family appeals for vigilance after savage dog attack

UNITED KINGDOM -- THE owners of a family pet that was mauled in a savage attack have appealed to the public to be on their guard.

Molly, a Cockapoo dog, was attacked by a lurcher as she was being walked along the river walk adjacent to Meetinghouse Street.

Six-year-old Molly suffered horrific injuries and only narrowly survived the encounter. She required staples right down her back after being “shaken like a rabbit”. Her owner too sustained injuries to his hand after pulling the lurcher off his pet.

Ann Brolly said it had been a horrendous ordeal for both the dog and her father, the dog’s owner. She said that if a child had been walking in the vicinity on the same day, it would almost certainly have resulted in a tragedy.

“My father takes Molly down there all the time and he meets other dog owners with lurchers but they are always muzzled and on a lead. On this occasion the lurcher was on its own and it ran up and got a hold of Molly. A young lad saw what was happening and but for his help, our dog would have been killed. I don’t know who he was but he battered the lurcher on the nose until it let go,” Ann said.

Since the incident last week, Molly has required multiple trips to the vet. Despite her brutal injuries, she is likely to pull through.

Ann added, “All we want to do is highlight the fact that this could have happened to a young person. The way the dog got a hold of Molly, it shook her like a rabbit and nearly tore her apart.

“Daddy was injured himself but if it had been a youngster they might not have been so lucky. Who knows what would have happened,” she added.

(The Strabane Chronicle - Feb 20, 2015)