Shot Dog Dies

A Derry man's puppy dog which was shot during an attempt on its owner's life weeks ago has now died.

While the man - who was initially taken to Letterkenny General Hospital and treated for wounds before being discharged - has fully recovered, the three-month-old St Bernard pup, which was in the rear seat of a car when it was sprayed with bullets during an attempt to kill the driver, died on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Londonderry man was attacked in the border village of St Johnston on September 25.

He was sitting in a car with his girlfriend outside a house in Transalla when four masked men approached and opened fire on the car.

The man was hit him in the neck as his girlfriend leapt from the vehicle.

The injured man then managed to drive off, though his girlfriend was briefly abducted by the gang, only to be later abandoned, uninjured.

Her boyfriend drove to a neighbour's house and alerted Gardaí and was then taken to Letterkenny Hospital.

Local vet, Gerard Roarty, who owns the Donegal Animal Hospital - also in Letterkenny - rushed to the scene at the same time as the ambulance attended.

The dog was bleeding heavily and Mr Roarty performed emergency surgery before taking it to the animal hospital.

There, Mr Roarty worked throughout the night on the unfortunate animal, but the vet's staff - who christened the pup 'Bullet' are now said to be "devastated" - following his death at the weekend.

"Sadly, the dog passed away on Saturday. Sure it had no chance with the amount of injuries it had. The dog went into heart failure, then passed away," Mr Roarty said.

"It seems the dog took the majority of the bullets. The reason why we became so attached to Bullet was because it managed to survive with massive injuries and we thought it would pull through."

See: Gardaí Probe Bizarre Co Donegal Shooting And Abduction

(BMcC)