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Woman, child hospitalised in 'vicious' Clare dog attack
🇮🇪 Ireland /Health & Science

Woman, child hospitalised in 'vicious' Clare dog attack

From RTÉ News · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • A woman and a child were hospitalized following a "vicious" dog attack in County Clare last weekend.
  • The sheepdog involved in the attack was described as "extremely vicious" and was euthanized following the incident.
  • Authorities are investigating the attack, with officials stating the dog was capable of killing a person.

A woman and a young boy required hospitalization after being attacked by a dog in County Clare, Ireland, in what authorities described as an "extremely vicious" incident. The dog, identified as a sheepdog, was euthanized after the attack.

Last Saturday morning I got a phone call from the gardaí, and they attended the scene where a dog was coming out onto the public road and had actually attacked a woman.

— Frankie CooteClare County Dog Warden Frankie Coote describing the initial alert he received from gardai about the dog attack.

Gardai, Ireland's national police force, are investigating the events that unfolded last Saturday near O'Brien's Bridge. Clare County Dog Warden Frankie Coote was alerted to the situation by local gardai. He recounted receiving an urgent call about a dog attacking a woman on the public road, with gardai also facing an assault from the animal when they arrived at the scene.

The gardaí went to the scene and they were getting attacked by the dog. They rang me as a matter of urgency and asked me to get there as quickly as I could.

— Frankie CooteCoote detailing the gardai's own encounter with the aggressive dog.

After the woman was taken to the hospital, the dog reportedly attacked the young boy who was walking down the road. While the boy was released from the hospital the same evening after receiving stitches, the woman sustained more serious injuries. Coote stated that they had "no choice" but to sedate and secure the dog, describing it as the second-worst dog he had encountered in his career and believing it was capable of killing a child or an elderly person.

The young boy was hospitalised and released that evening with a few stitches, but the woman's injuries were more serious, gardaí told us.

— Frankie CooteCoote explaining the differing severity of injuries sustained by the woman and the child.

Coote emphasized that this attack was highly unusual for a sheepdog, noting that typically such dogs might nip at ankles or chase bicycles. He described the scene as "terrible" and unlike anything he had witnessed before, where a dog posed such a significant danger. The dog has since been removed from the area.

He was an unbelievably more savage dog (than) I had seen, in any breed. I'm not exaggerating to say that I honestly believe if we hadn't removed him on the day, he was capable of actually killing an older person or a child.

— Frankie CooteCoote expressing the extreme danger posed by the dog.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by RTÉ News. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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