Two people rushed to hospital after pitbull terrier ‘turns’ on owners at Cork house
TWO people were rushed to hospital after a pitbull terrier “turned" on its owners yesterday.
Gardai rushed to the scene on the Connolly Road in Ballyphehane shortly after 5pm.
The canine bit a woman in the arm and leg.
A family member tried to stop the dog and was also bitten in the arm.
They were rushed to Cork University Hospital for a medical assessment.
A dog warden, a vet and gardaí along with the Garda Armed Support unit were alerted.
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After discussions with the dog’s owner, the vet euthanised the dog and was shot by a garda from the Armed Support Unit.
Vincent Cashman from the CSPCA explained there was numerous attempts to calm the dog before he was shot.
Mr Cashman told PJ Coogan on The Opinionline on Cork's 96FM that officials wanted to destroy the dog humanely.
The dog was given an extra shot “blue juice” to make sure he “was gone quietly”.
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He said: “I don't know what the situation was here in this particular case.
"But again, you'll have quite a large dog in a domestic setting.
"They need plenty of exercise, plenty of training, plenty of stimulation.”
The vet discussed how the XL Bully wasn’t in Ireland when the Control of Dogs Act was written and was never intended to be a family pet.
He continued: “The problem is with them, the dog might be fine on the lead, you might be able to walk them around.
“He might be grand until the dog decides to react. And then the dog goes into fight mode, and you want to be very, very strong and very, very capable to keep that dog under control.
“And in some instances, the dog will reverse his aggression from somebody else or another dog or to the handler themselves.”
The bite pressure per square inch adds to the “severity of a potential attack”.
He continued: “It's very, very strong. They're designed to bite and hold on.
"Same with Pitbulls, same with a lot of those breeds. They're designed to bite and hold.”
The Cork vet explained how most dogs will give signs of aggravation but occasionally a dog can react “badly to a situation” and makes it worse.
He added: “We're supposed to be having this adult conversation - with the last 10 years. It lasts about 10- 15 minutes, maybe a day and then people move on and forget about it.”
It comes just one day after Nicole Morey was killed by her own dogs on her birthday.
The 23-year-old from Limerick died at the scene of the vicious animal attack.
Ms Morey had celebrated her birthday before she was mauled to death at the front door of the house.
After Gardai were alerted, armed officers shot dead one of the dogs and took control of three others.