Dog stabbed 55 times

A DOG was killed after it was stabbed 55 times and had its throat slit in a city park. The animal's mutilated corpse was discovered in bushes at Wild Park, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, West Sussex.
Witnesses described seeing a man disappearing into the undergrowth with the pet before re-emerging alone and covered in blood. The ferocity of the attack was such that the American Bull Terrier was almost decapitated.

The dog was described in local media reports as an American Pit Bull Terrier, but is most likely to have been a Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross. Police described the animal as being ‘butchered’. It later emerged that the dog was named Paddy and was owned by a woman who lives locally.
Inspector Tony Pritchard, investigating officer for the RSPCA, said: ‘I can't comprehend what sort of person would carry out such an attack.

‘In the nine years I have worked for the RSPCA I can't remember seeing such brutality towards an animal. There wasn't much left of the neck to examine. The dog had almost been decapitated.’

The gruesome discovery was made late last week, following an anonymous phone call to police by a woman at about midday. She told officers she had seen a man drag a dog into bushes.

The witness, who lived near to the Brighton park where Paddy's body was found explained that he saw a young woman walking the dog, who was nipped on the thigh by Paddy before she used her mobile phone. Shortly after the woman placed the phone call, a man appeared with a knife and began stabbing and slashing the dog.

A vet carried out a post mortem the day after the attack. The dog had received 55 stab wounds; the majority were to the neck.

Six wounds were to the left side of the dog's chest. One stab wound had fractured a rib and the dog’s thorax, the windpipe, had been slit.

Inspector Pritchard said: ‘We estimate the knife used was a large kitchen knife, about ten centimetres long and four centimetres wide.

‘The vet believes the cause of death was probably bleeding due to the massive trauma to the neck but it would have had difficulty breathing because of the damage to the thorax.’
He said the dog was estimated to be one-year-old, weighed about 50 kilos and had a muscular build. It was white all over its body except for black ear and eye.

Inspector Pritchard said: ‘When I got to the park there was a tree stump covered in blood and drag marks to some bushes.

‘It's not clear whether the dog was still alive when it was dragged into the bushes or whether it had been killed near to the tree stump.

‘The tree stump wasn't completely hidden and people could have seen what happened.’

No weapon was found at the scene but officers discovered a set of keys. Police were questioning a 30-year-old man at the weekend in connection with the attack and the RSPCA were being kept informed.