26 April 2024 , 11:29
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A man has revealed he is "traumatised" after seeing his pet terrier viciously attacked on a canal towpath by another dog that jumped from a narrowboat.
58-year-old John Collins explained that seven-year-old terrier-cross Tilly had flesh "stripped" from her back leg in the attack which took place on the Shropshire Union Canal in Ellesmere Port, nearby to Cheshire Oaks on Saturday April 20. According to police, the owners of the dog "failed to intervene" in the incident, which meant Tilly, who weighs under 7.5kg, needed emergency surgery, Cheshire Live reports.
Mr Collins said the boat and its three inhabitants could not be found after he came back to the scene, having taken Tilly to the vet. The dog is now making a good recovery.
However, Mr Collins’ vet bills have already run to £650, and he expects the full cost of the damage to eventually total more than £1,000. He was taking his two rescue dogs, brother and sister Scuffy and Tilly, for a walk alongside a narrowboat moored close to the waterworks off the A5117 at approximately 3.30pm when the incident took place.
Tilly before the incident in Ellesmere Port (Cheshire Live/MEN MEDIA)He said: “I managed to pick my Scruffy up because he was right next to me. By the time I got across to Tilly, about ten yards away, the other dog had bitten her and torn the flesh off her back leg.”
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Mr Collins described the offending dog as a black Patterdale terrier. He said: “When she first got bitten, the flesh was just hanging off her leg. It had stripped it. The wound was unbelievable.”
Three people, two men and a woman, and dog, a Jack Russell were aboard the grey narrowboat. “I was saying ‘Your dog, look what he has done, she’s been bitten,’ and they just said ‘It’s nothing, he hasn’t done anything to your dog,’” Mr Collins recalled.
“The man with one arm walked off with the dog to give it to the woman, and that’s when he said ‘I’ve told you about these dogs they’re b*****ds’, so it wasn’t an isolated incident.”
Mr Collins added: “I’m really concerned at this point. I’m a mile away from home and the dog has a serious injury. There wasn’t any time for hanging about so I said ‘I’m coming back, and I’ll see you about this because there’s going to be a big vet’s bill involved here.
"I dropped Tilly off at the veterinary place, dropped Scruffy back at the house and when I got back to the canal, they had got off, and they had left a massive oil slick behind them, all the way towards Chester from there.
“It upset me because I had been seeing all the ducklings along there, and I had seen five kingfishers on that stretch, as well as herons and cormorants.”
Tilly had flesh ‘stripped’ from her back leg in the attack (Cheshire Live/MEN MEDIA)Mr Collins described the incident as ‘traumatic’, saying: “I know that I’ve suffered some sort of trauma. I’m here on my own, I’m somewhere I don’t know and Tilly was with a vet I don’t know. It was horrendous.”
Tilly is stuck inside unable to walk any distance for more than two weeks. Mr Collins thanked Animal Trust vets in Ellesmere Port and Woolton Veterinary Centre in Liverpool for their care.
“I’ve been through everything with these dogs,” he said, “bad times and good. They were abandoned when they were pups at 10 months old, and Scruffy looks after Tilly. They’re dead close.”
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: "At around 4.30pm on Saturday 20 April police were called to reports that a dog had been attacked by other dogs on the canal towpath in Ellesmere Port.
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"The caller stated that between 3pm and 3.30pm on 20 April, they had been walking their dog at the side of the canal near to the water treatment site when two dogs jumped off a canal boat and began to attack their dog. The occupants of the canal boat failed to intervene in the incident.
"The victim managed to free their dog and took it to a local vet. It’s expected to make a full recovery.
"The canal boat which the dogs were on has since left the area and no arrest have been made. Anyone with any information is asked to contact Cheshire Police on 101 or visit www.cheshire.police.uk/tell-us quoting IML 1804931."