Two dogs die in suspected poisoning on walking route
Dog owners Mary Crotty and Phyllis Walsh brought their dogs to the Loop Walk last Friday for a walk together along their usual route when both dogs became seriously ill.
The dogs did not leave Ms Crotty or Ms Walsh’s eyesight once, staying on their leads for the whole walk, Ms Crotty said.
It is a mystery how the dogs could have picked anything up and ingested it, she added.
According to Ms Crotty, Ms Walsh’s dog became seriously ill on the walk with what seemed like a seizure.
The women immediately rushed to get to a vet, she said.
It was around this time that her own dog also became seriously ill. She said there was no time to get the animals to a vet, and both died.
Both women are extremely upset by the incident, Ms Crotty says.
An autopsy is under way to confirm if poison was the cause of death.
Both owners suspect it was a factor because of how quickly both dogs became severely ill.
The local community is “outraged” says O’Brien’s Bridge community group chairman Mick Murtagh.
“There is no excuse for poison to be put on that walk,” says Mr Murtagh, adding that whatever substance the dogs ingested must be “lethal”.
“If it was purposefully put there, it’s sinister.”
An investigation was launched by gardaí in September, when they received reports of sausage meat laced with poison scattered on canal walks between Clonlara and Ardnacrusha, along the Clare/Limerick border. O’Briensbridge is within a 10km radius of this area.
