Michaela McCormack McEvoy is pictured with her mother Martina and her dog Buddy on the bridge next to her home where she found the decapitated Greyhound. Pic: Christy Farrell

A FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD from Brownswood was left shocked and disgusted when she happened upon a gruesome scene near her home when out walking her dog.

Michaela McCormack McEvoy couldn’t believe her eyes when she peeked over a bridge to check the water levels after a night of heavy rainfall and instead saw a Greyhound in an appalling condition.

Not only had the dog been dumped, but the perpetrators had left the dog beheaded.

A great lover of animals herself, Michaela was extremely upset following the discovery.

She said: “It was terrible to look at; someone just dumped it there after doing something that horrible to it. We rang the Guards and animal services but they said that they couldn’t move it because it was on private property. The council finally came to collect it last week.

“It didn’t look like it had been in a fight – someone obviously had done this to the poor thing. It was there for a while and was in a bad way, with birds pecking at it and other dogs going down to it.”

A mature greyhound, minus a head, dumped over a bridge at Brownswood. Pic: John Walsh

Her mother, Martina, said that she was outraged the Colaiste Bride student witnessed such a grisly case of animal cruelty.

“It was shocking – it wasn’t a nice sight for anyone, let alone a child. There was surely a better way to get rid of it than that; it wasn’t the first time I have seen a dog dumped but never in those conditions. It was an awful thing to do.”

Bridget Cullen, an officer with the Wexford Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (W.S.P.C.A), was shocked when The Echo informed her of the incident.

“I hadn’t heard a word about it – that’s despicable. I’m lost for words. I couldn’t go on record to say what I’d like to do to that person.

“I really feel that this is an all-time low. What the hell is wrong with people? It’s bad enough to leave a dog tied to a gate or to dump it somewhere but to stoop to that level is unbelievable. If I thought it was my brother or neighbour, or whoever, had done this I would be very concerned. If you can do this to an animal you can do it to a person.”

She added: “When you stoop that low, I think you’re evil.”

[Full story in this week's Echo]