‘The owner was covered in blood’ – Pet mauled in vicious dog attack in Limerick

A small dog was seriously injured after being savaged by another dog at a residential estate in Limerick last night.

A woman and her young child were out walking their pet in Castletroy at approximately 7pm on Tuesday when it was suddenly attacked by another dog that is believed to have been roaming without an owner. One eyewitness to the incident said they saw “chunks” being ripped from the smaller dog’s body – leaving its female owner “covered in blood”.

The offending dog had to be restrained by a local resident and a passing cyclist who heard the commotion and rushed to the scene. Gardaí have confirmed the offending animal is now deceased, and the dog that was mauled has suffered serious injuries.

Speaking to Limerick’s Live 95 FM, an eyewitness said: “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.”

The eyewitness said that when they arrived, the woman was incredibly distressed and the skin had been completely ripped off of her pet’s back leg. He said the woman was “covered in blood”, and she and her child were then quickly escorted from the area while two other men restrained the attacking animal.

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They said: “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,” they told Limerick’s Live 95 FM.

The incident comes just weeks after tragic death of Nicole Morey (23) who was attacked and killed by a dog understood to be an XL Bully at the front of a house in Ballyneety, Limerick. It’s believed that there were four dogs at the property and that one of them had to be put down by Gardaí on arrival. Officers believe Nicole was attacked by two of the dogs.

Another dog attack occurred in Cork city on Thursday 7 June. During this incident, two people were hospitalised and an animal – believed to be a family pet – was destroyed by Gardaí.

A Garda spokesperson told CorkBeo:” Gardaí were alerted to an incident involving two dogs at a residential estate in Castletroy, County Limerick on Tuesday evening, 25th June 2024.

“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.”