Dog attack in Castletroy leaves community shaken

The attacking dog was roaming unrestrained.

A Garda investigation is underway after a dog attack on the Castletroy Greenway last night.

The incident happened just after 7pm on Tuesday evening, June 25th, 2024.

It’s understood a woman and her young child were walking their dog on the Greenway when they were set upon by another large dog off his lead.

A man living in the area intervened and restrained the dog.

The woman was understood to be extremely shaken and her dog sustained a number of injuries from the incident.

A witness to the incident described what happened to Live95 News: 

“It was just after 7 p.m. last night and I was walking on the Greenway in Castletroy on the way to the Castletroy shopping centre and we heard commotion and screaming and dogs barking and just looked down a little bit down the Greenway and saw a woman struggling and a man trying to get a dog off her dog. And so we ran down and this man had come out of his house and jumped on the dog to pull him off the lady’s dog. And when I arrived the woman was quite distressed and covered in blood. Her dog had been viciously attacked so the dog’s back leg – the skin was missing.

“There was chunks taken out of his body and the woman was quite visibly upset and in hysterics and I just picked her up off the ground and kind of moved her on. At this stage, the man had the other dog under control. he was almost I suppose behind the dog in a choke hold kind of holding the dog down. Another passerby who was cycling and jumped off his bike and put his arms around the man on the ground and the dog and to restrain the dog even more. Like he was a quite powerful dog I suppose you know so it did need the two of them.

“I walked the lady away from the incident and I said to her that she just needed to go home and get her dog out of the area. I suppose just because in case that dog broke free again The first thing it would do is go for her dog again.”

A spokesperson for An Garda Siochana said: “A dog which was in the control of its owner was attacked by a second dog. The offending dog was restrained by a number of persons in the area. No persons were injured during the course of the incident. The dog which was attacked was seriously injured. Investigations are ongoing in relation to this matter. The offending dog is now deceased.

It’s understood an expert group is due to report in the coming weeks to Minister Heather Humphreys with recommendations around updating the legislation on dangerous dogs. 

It follows the fatal dog attack on Limerick woman Nicole Morey in Ballyneety earlier this month. 

The 23-year-old was attacked by an XL Bully dog after she arrived home after celebrating her birthday with friends and family.

The dog was shot by members of the garda armed response unit, who were called to assist at the scene and three other dogs were seized at the property and later put down.