Dog attack on towpath

A 76 YEARS old woman suffered deep distress after her pet Cairn terrier Daisy had her stomach ripped open by a mastiff on the Kennet & Avon towpath at Wooton Rivers.

She told of her horror as she watched a large mastiff-cross dog attack and rip open the stomach of her Cairn terrier, which died after emergency surgery.

Mrs Connolly is still recovering from the shock of seeing the attack and the anguish of having to carry her pet homewards with her own fingers dripping with blood where she too had been bitten trying to rescue it.

Running loose

The  mastiff-cross was running loose with a man riding a bicycle, and as they passed the dog attacked, grabbing Daisy by the stomach, with Mrs Connolly later telling:

"I got bitten trying to stop her from being shaken like a rat," said Mrs Connolly while the other dog owner just stood watching. My little dog was not barking but screaming as any animal would with its stomach ripped open.

"The man on the bicycle never said a word of apology or expressed horror at what his dog had done. He just said ‘You had better get that dog to a vet quickly'."

Couldn't save her

Daisy underwent a three-hour operation at Belmont House veterinary surgery in Pewsey before being taken to the University of the West of England veterinary teaching hospital at Langford near Bristol where she died 48 hours later when her heart gave out.

Luckily the police traced the Burbage owner of the other dog, and have sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.