Dog day afternoon: Casper’s dramatic river rescue

A LIMERICK firefighter swapped his fireproof clothing and helmet yesterday for a wetsuit to rescue a dog who was thrown into a river.

The dog, a two-year-old white Boxer, named Casper, was thrown into the River Shannon by some youths and got trapped under Thomond Bridge, near King John’s Castle.

Casper is owned by David Hogan from Island Road, Limerick.

His sister, Dawn, aged 23 said: “Casper was at my mother’s home and she was minding him. He must have got out of the house and we were told somebody caught him and threw him into the river. It was an awful thing to do and he is a very quiet dog.”

Gardaí were alerted after the dogs barking was heard by a man passing over Thomond Bridge.

Dawn said: “The fire brigade were called as the tide was coming in and they couldn’t get to him. One of the firemen put on a wet suite and went down into the river and plucked Casper to safety.

A spokesman for Limerick Fire Brigade said: “It was an unusual one alright. We don’t normally get called to pull dogs out of the river.”

David Hogan drove back to Limerick last night from Cork to be with Casper who was recovering under heat lamps from his ordeal.