Dog warden probing report of injuries after man says he was injured by animal

A spokesperson for the Council confirmed that the dog control team has received a report of an incident in which a person was injured and is currently investigating.

Seamus Baldrick told the ‘Journal’ he contacted both the PSNI and the council on Friday in relation to the reported incident.

He spoke to the paper after the ‘Journal’ reported on an incident in which a Labrador reportedly sustained injuries in the early hours of last Tuesday morning. Mr. Baldrick told this newspaper that it was his dog that injured the Labrador, however, he said that this only occurred after the retriever had attacked his animal.

“That was my dog that inflicted the injuries on the Labrador but the Labrador was the aggressor. I’ll show you my wounds. He also attacked me. I just want to get the true story out there, the facts of what happened.”

Mr. Baldrick showed the ‘Journal’ lacerations, punctures and bruising he sustained to his hands and legs after an incident which he said occurred in the Altcar and Bloomfield area at 3.30am last Tuesday.

“I was out walking my dog. I go our every morning for peace and quiet. I keep hunting dogs, lurchers. To cut a long story short I was walking my dogs. I’ve an old bitch of 13 years of age. That’s what age she is. She is crippled with arthritis. I take her out along with the younger dogs but they were away far ahead sporting themselves and that.

“This Labrador came out of nowhere. I’ve never seen it before in my life around the area. I don’t know who owns the dog but it started circling the bitch. I thought it was looking to play.

“I called the bitch up but he followed her up and started circling, the tail was going and it started barking and then he attacked the bitch so I ran down and grabbed the bitch and pulled her around the corner but the dog pursued me around the corner. He bit me on both hands and the legs. Only I was wearing tear proof hunting trousers he would have torn lumps out of myself. He bit me on the legs.”

Mr. Baldrick said he was shaken after the incident.

“I was drained and in shock and throwing my guts up because I was that out of sorts.”

He told the ‘Journal’ he has reported the incident to both the PSNI and the council.

“I was up with the police this morning and they said it was a matter for the dog warden. I went to the dog warden and got it documented. There is a lot of negativity and I just want to get it put to bed and put the facts out there.”

The Council confirmed it is investigating the report.