Alledged dog attack wrongly being blamed on hunting
A beautiful Labrador is alledged to have been attacked and seriously injured in Derry last week, thankfully continues to make progress on his road to recovery.
In what can only be described as horrific injuries suffered by the Labrador including severe and numerous puncture and slash wounds following a savage 15 minute attack in the Glengalliagh area of the city.
This is now rightfully subject to a live investigation, and we would urge anyone with any information to contact the PSNI or the Derry City Council dog warden.
Unfortunately, there are claims in the media the Labrador was set upon by ‘hunting dogs’ on Tuesday night 22nd February and suffered severe bite wounds. While we do not know if this was from dogs fighting in the street or other more cynical activities some are trying to twist and contort this in an effort to revive the Hunting of Wild Mammals Bill that was defeated in December.
When the BBC contacted CAI on Friday 25th of February we pointed out that the incident was very odd as hounds normally dispatch their prey within 1-2 seconds as both Lord Burns and Bonomy both concluded in their independent reviews into hunting and that hunts would not normally be out at night.
The BBC representative then claimed it was lurcher type dogs and there was CCTV footage of the incident. They went on to say that there was an issue in the area with the number of such dogs being kept.
While it is estimated that there are more than 8,000 dogs licensed within the council area. CAI cannot tell people what dogs they can keep and furthermore the organised hunting world cannot be blamed for what is an incident involving a domesticated animal that clearly falls under the Dogs (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. This would appear to have nothing to do with the management of wild animals. To link such an incident with organised hunts as some politicians are trying to do, especially when the full facts are not yet known, is as deplorable as it is desperate.
While CAI do not know the full facts of the case however, pending the outcome of the investagation anyone suspected of an offence in this incident should be held accountable.
