Disgust as beloved pet is gutted and set on fire
THE BELOVED pet dog of a County Wexford family was found under a tyre with his tongue cut out, his stomach sliced open and his hair black from being set on fire in wasteground in New Ross on Saturday.
The dog’s owner Bobby Katus, 66, of Priory Court, New Ross made the grim dsicovery with his friend on Saturday night.
Bobby and Sheila Katus have had Gizmo for 14 years since he was a puppy and he was a much loved household pet according to their granddaughter Symone.
Symone, 23, said her grandfather is in a state of shock and hasn’t been able to sleep after finding his dog, who was cremated on Sunday in Oylegate.
Gizmo went missing in New Ross on Wednesday evening and Bobby was brought to a site where Gizmo’s body had been found.
Gizmo’s remains were hidden under a tyre. Motor oil had been poured over him and attempts were made to burn him. On closer inspection Bobby saw that Gizmo had been gutted from top to bottom and his organs were torn out. His tongue was also cut off.
‘It is sickening. My grandad is heartbroken. He just can’t believe it. He keeps looking at Gizmo’s basket for him to return to it. He tried all of the vets when Gizmo went missing but there was no sign of him. It was only through sheer luck that he found Gizmo.’
The 14-year-old dog woke Bobby up every morning, waddling into his room and barking.
‘Gizmo was not only a dog, he was my grandparents’ best friend. He guarded the house with his big man bark to compensate for his little body, ready to protect my grandparents from anyone he didn’t recognise. He would sit on my grandad’s lap and watch TV with him. He would climb up the stairs and wait to be brought to the shop every morning. Nanny and grandad had to spell SH O P so he didn’t get excited sometimes and demand to leave the house with them. He lay on his little cushion on the sofa every night happy to just be in the company of my nanny and grandad.
‘We wanted his remaining time to be comfortable. It was the way he was found that was the most disturbing part to everybody and to think that my grandad had to see him like that.’
Symone said her father cannot fathom how anybody could do this to a dog.
She said the way Gizmo was found reminded people in her family of how foxes are gutted by hunters to intensify their greyhounds’ blood lust.
‘It wasn’t an animal, it was a human who did this as the cut was so clean.
‘We’ll all eventually come to terms with what happened because that’s what you have to do in life but I don’t think I’ll ever forgive anyone for how upset my grandad is over this,’ she added.
She said the family have been buoyed by the support they have received.
‘People are saying they have lit candles for Gizmo. It felt like we were on our own and that this was something that happened to us in isolation but now we feel like everyone is behind us.’
Sergeant Eddie Wilde said gardaí are investigating the circumstances surrounding Gizmo’s death, which he described as malicious and terrible.
‘We are appealing to witnesses and hope people come to us,’ Sgt Wilde said.