Experts say the surviving dog, who had a badly crushed paw, had not eaten for up to a month. They are trying to discover if the other dogs died in the skip or were already dead when dumped into the steel container. Brendan Hughes of the ISPCA said the dog survived the ordeal had suffered months of neglect. The dead dogs had also been victims of extreme maltreatment over a sustained period.

"This was a particularly horrific case," said Hughes. "What sort of mentality does this? "The two guys who found the dogs are still in shock. This skip was sealed tight so there is no way the dogs crawled of their own accord.

"This poor old dog came out from under the two dead dogs and hid in a shed. The live dog was about a quarter of its normal body weight and its right leg had been fractured for quite some time," he added. "Its nails were turning in. It would have been in horrendous pain trying to walk with those nails, never mind having a broken leg."

Hughes said he will be pursuing the matter under legislation which can lead to a two-year jail term upon conviction. The skip has since been traced back to a Traveller's halting site on the outskirts of Kilkenny city and a number of people have been questioned.

Kilkenny County council workers, Martin Parker and Pierce Purcell, were shocked at the find just after 9am a week last Tuesday morning. They managed to take the frightened dog to a shelter on the grounds of the recycling centre at Dunmore. Engineer Brian O'Donovan was on hand ordered the two bodies to be buried immediately for health and environmental reasons.

He then contacted the gardai and the ISPCA.