A calf was “viciously” attacked by a dog in the Horse and Jockey area of Co. Tipperary this week.
Local farmer Lucy Flanagan describes how one of her children found one the calves on Monday (June 29) had been mauled by a dog.
“[The dog] pulled the leather off and took a bite of the flesh and on the other side of the stomach there’s bite marks.
“He grabbed him under the eye as well, it’s slightly cut. He would have been the smallest calf in the field and he was the one that was caught,” she said.
Lucy said that she called her husband Eamon, then the Gardai and the vet. The vet was there soon and gave him an anaesthetic and treated him.
The calf was good this morning and the vet reckons he’ll make a good recovery. It was a vicious attack, you rarely see a calf attacked.
“The vet is 100% sure it was a large dog. Normally, you associate attacks with sheep, not calves.”
Lucy and Eamon are part-time farmers and it was one of their children who spotted the calf’s injuries.
“We’re part-time farmers, the calves are more like pets. My youngest son ran up and could see something was hanging out of the calf, he knew there was something wrong.
Lucy says that two dog wardens were out to her yesterday (Monday) one from South Tipperary and the other from North Tipperary.
“They were both happy to say the calf was bitten by a large dog. There has been dog attacks in the area, I know another farmer who lost about 29 sheep last year and other farmers have lost sheep due to dog attacks.”
The land where the calf was attacked is 5km from where the Flanagans live and Lucy says she’s been travelling back and forth more often because they still have calves over there.
“I’m still not the better of it, it was a horrible ordeal.”
Councillor Jim Ryan of Thurles said that normally you associate these attacks with sheep not calves.
“There would have been attacks, but this is the first time on a calf.” He called on dog owners to be aware of where their dogs are at night.