Emaciated greyhound found dumped in skip

AN emaciated greyhound who was discovered in a locked skip in a dump alongside two other dead dogs has been put to sleep.

Those investigating the case say they won’t rest until the person responsible receives a prison term.

Gardaí, cruelty officers and Kilkenny County Council officials were investigating the grim find at the council’s landfill site yesterday morning.

Experts say the surviving dog, who had a badly crushed paw, had not eaten for up to a month. They are trying to discover if the other dogs died in the skip, or were already dead when dumped into the steel container Brendan Hughes of the ISPCA said the dog who survived the ordeal had suffered months of neglect The dead dogs had also been the victims of extreme maltreatment over a sustained period.

“This was a particularly horrific case. What sort of mentality does this?

“The two guys who found the dogs are still in shock. This skip was sealed tight so there is no way the dogs crawled in there of their own accord.

“This poor old dog came out from under the two dead bodies and hid in a shed. The live dog was about a quarter of its normal body weight and its right leg had been fractured for quite some time,” he said.

“Its nails were turning in. It would have been in horrendous pain trying to walk with those nails, never mind having a broken leg.”

Mr Hughes said he will be pursuing the matter under legislation which can lead to a two-year jail term upon conviction.

The skip has since been traced back to a Travellers’ halting site on the outskirts of Kilkenny city and a number of people were being questionedabout it.

County council workers, Martin Parker and Pierce Purcell, were shocked at the find just after 9am yesterday morning.

They managed to take the frightened dog to a shelter on the grounds of the recycling centre at Dunmore.

Engineer Brian O’Donovan was on hand and ordered the two bodies to be buried immediately for health and environmental reasons.

He then contacted the gardaí and the ISPCA.

Donations to the ISPCA can be made to their head office in Dublin.

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