A THREE MONTH OLD lurcher puppy had its throat slashed in a horrific attack in Portlaoise, Co Laois yesterday afternoon.
Manager of animal rescue charity Cara Rescue Dogs, Lorraine McEvoy was called to the scene where the injured dog was wedged between two walls on the outskirts of a housing estate.
“The little thing never made a sound, but the look on his face was terrible, his eyes were completely open,” she told TheJournal.ie.
“I didn’t really get a proper look at him until we got to the vets because we hurried to get there, I think we might have broken a few speed limits.”
“When I saw the extent of what had been done my legs just turned to jelly, it chilled me to the bone,” she said.
McEvoy has been working in animal welfare for over 12 years and said she has never seen a case of such extreme abuse before. The puppy, named Taylor by McEvoy and her colleague, had multiple stab and slash wounds on its neck and severe damage to its trachea.
“I think he must have been left there on his own for at least 12 hours as the blood on his head and body was all dried up and the wounds had stopped bleeding.”
Surgery
The vet initially told McEvoy that there was very little hope for Taylor as his injuries were so extreme but when she discovered that the jugular vein had not been damaged it was decided that they should attempt surgery to repair the pup’s neck.
Taylor had a two hour surgery this morning to piece together his trachea and put his neck back together and McEvoy said the biggest worry now is infection. The puppy is hooked up to draining tubes, is heavily sedated and has been put on antibiotics.
“I am hopeful he should make a recovery but I wonder how much of a recovery,” she said. “If he can’t eat or drink then that’s no life for a dog but for the time being he’s doing well.”
“The vet told me today that when they put him in the crate to rest after the operation and closed the door he let out a little yelp as if he was saying ‘don’t go’ so maybe that’s a good sign,” she added.
She said they decided to name the lurcher puppy Taylor after Irish boxer Katie Taylor, “because they’re both such great fighters”.
“I can’t comprehend who would do something like this to a defenseless puppy,” she said.
“Taylor is only a baby and couldn’t have done harm to anyone, it can only have been for their own personal, evil satisfaction and I can’t believe I’m living in the same county as someone who would do that.”
Cara Rescue Dogs was set up by McEvoy in 2011 to deal with the increasing number of abandoned and abused dogs. Details on how to donate to the charity can be found on their Facebook page.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say