Dogs killer strikes again

June 1989

A bounty has been placed on the head of an animal killer who indiscriminately tossed strychnine laced bacon into gardens in Ashforrd wiping out eight dogs.

Furious residtns of the Killinskey-Ballyduff area, many of whom lost valuable dogs in the attack, are now offering a ‘substantial’ reward for information leading to the apprehension of the culprit.

And feelings are running so high in the Ashford area at present over last weekend’s poisoning orgy it is feared that people may take the law into their own hands.

It was a weekend of bitter tears and anger in Ashford as family pets suffered horrifically painful deaths at the hands of what many described as a ‘maniac’.

But on an even more serious scale many parents are now reluctant to allow their children into their own gardens in the fear that they might pick up the poison.

Anne Brennan, who lost a pure bred Collie, is one of those parents living in fear.

Her two year old child has been toddling around the part of the garden where the poison was laid and could have died by picking up just one grain of the substance.

An irate Eamonn Lawless who lost a Doberman when the poison was thrown into his garden pulled no punches when he claimed that residents had a ‘fair idea’ of who is responsible.

Eamonn was instrumental in encouraging the residents to offer a financial reward to anyone with strong evidence that might lead to the arrest of the culprit.

Like all other victims, Eamonn’s valuable dog was fenced in and never roamed the roads or fields.

‘It seems to me like this maniac was trying to prevent something like sheep killing which would never happen anyway in the case of any of the dogs killed,’ he said.

Some dog owners including top international author Gordon Thomas who lives in the area, were lucky and managed to save the lives of their pets who were poisoned.

Gardaí admitted this week that feelings were running very high because of the incidents but warned people that they could find themselves in serious trouble if they take the law into their own hands.

‘We are baffled by the reasoning behind this attack as there are very few sheep in the Ashford area. Anyway, most of the dogs killed were never let outside their homes,’ he added.

It is the second such attack in Ashfordm the last one having taken placed in September when cocktail sausages laced with strychnine were thrown into gardens.