By Paddy Clancy

Gardai throughout the county and the Irish Greyhound Board are probing the cruel death of two greyhounds whose bodies were pulled from a tributary of the River Foyle last week.

Shocked animal welfare workers were stunned by the extent of cruelty behind the deaths of the two unwanted greyhounds.

The dogs’ badly mutilated bodies were recovered this week from the Suille River near St Johnston.

Experts reckoned they were about three years old when dumped with weights in the water.

They had probably ended their racing lives either through injury or for some other reason and their owner was no longer prepared to give them a home.

The ears, where racing greyhounds carry identification marks, were cut off one of the dogs, a male.

There was part of a rope around the neck of the other, a female, indicating a weight had been attached before she was dropped in the river, probably from a bridge over the little-known Suille river near the Northern Ireland border.

The female’s head was almost entirely eaten.

Despite the attempt to prevent identification investigators believe they have a good chance of discovering the owners.

Greyhound Board experts examined the body of the male last Friday at an animal shelter in Letterkenny and carried out DNA tests. The results will be compared with details on the Greyhound Board data-base.

The bodies were spotted floating in the water on Wednesday last week by a local farmer near St Johnston.

ISPCA Inspector Kevin McGinley removed the carcases from the river.

He was still shocked when he spoke later about the discovery.

He said: “It is mind-blowing that such wanton cruelty exists. It just reminds us of the need for people to have a change of attitude towards animal welfare”.

Mr McGinley said it was not possible to say if the dogs were dead or alive when dumped, because of the decomposition.

He added: “This is as bad as it gets. People who are capable of doing something like this to animals could be just as capable of human abuse and that worries me.”