A YOUNG woman was horrified after her dog suffered a massive cut after being caught in barbed wire.
Elizabeth Shaw, 23, has warned other owners to be on high alert after the incident at Fullarton Woods in Troon.
The university student from the town, was out walking her Labrador Izzy and little Jack Russell cross Charlie, when Izzy excitedly rushed over to see sheep on a field before coming back with a severe gash.
Elizabeth looked on in horror as what she thought was a patch of mud turned out to be a wound six inches deep, right down to the muscle of her pet.
She told the Advertiser: “I usually walk my two dogs every day at the woods or the beach.
“I walk them off the leash most of the time. If I notice something dangerous, I’ll call them back, but Izzy usually runs around me in circles.
“She spotted some sheep in the field – and hadn’t seen them before so she rushed over to see them.
“When I called her back, she came over straight away. I noticed something that looked like a bit of mud but I soon realised she was cut all the way down to her muscle. It was about five or six inches deep – it didn’t bleed because it was cut so far down to the muscle.”
Elizabeth rushed Izzy to the vet where emergency surgery had to be performed to prevent infection with the wound even shocking the vets who treated her.
She said: “I was in panic mode, I was shaking. It just looked so bad.
“I had never seen anything like that. It was quite scary.”
At the time Elizabeth was left confused as to what had caused the cut on Wednesday, October 28.
The next day she returned to the scene and found a low-lying piece of barbed wire that was stuck onto a tree.
And she has raised concerns that a child could end up injured.
She said: “When I was looking earlier on this morning, I was thinking what if a
toddler falls on that. It would be asking for trouble and it could have been a lot worse.”
South Ayrshire Council have vowed to check the area of the woods to assess the risk.
A council spokesperson said: “We will inspect the area in question, and if the safety defect is on council land we will take action.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here