A Dublin woman has been left heartbroken after her beloved pet dog was stolen and dumped in the Grand Canal.
Around three weeks ago Karen Tierney and her son Kevin were both at work and returned to find Keisha, their little dachshund, missing.
Karen speculates that her “baby” Keisha had made a break for the window, but added: “We actually don’t think anyone took her from the house.
“She usually doesn’t get very far, she usually goes as far as the local shop… she was returned to us, she’s very much a loved dog… everybody would know her.”
With €1,000 as a reward for her return, the pair never gave up hope that they would find Keisha. Last Thursday they made a shocking discovery.
Kevin found Keisha tied up in a gym bag, on the 11th lock in the Grand Canal.
“She was gone, she was completely mutilated,” the heartbroken mum said.
Karen described finding her as “absolutely horrendous.”
Devastated, Karen thinks that Keisha had been mistreated before being killed.
Karen insists that while Gardaí are yet to make any arrests, there is CCTV on the canal and that “somebody knows something,” about Keisha.
“I’ve never heard… of cruelty like that. I’m so shocked that anyone is even capable of doing something like this," she added.
Karen said that the posters they put up while Keisha was missing were being taken down and that she fears the perpetrator could have been “somebody local.”
A video has been shared on TikTok where some local children claim to have found the dog after being discarded, which Karen described as “distressing.”
“I’m on the verge of tears all the time. I can’t believe it,” she told Liveline.
Listeners of the show took to social media to share their condolences and horror at hearing the shocking story.
“Boils my blood,” said one.
“This is just heartbreaking,” said another.
The killers are “bound to escalate further if not apprehended,” speculated one Twitter user.
“Every serial killer in history tortured animals first before progressing to human torture / murder. Shocking if society does not act.”
“People who do this are capable of anything. A serious threat to both humans and animals” agreed another.
"Vicious cowards torturing a little dog. I can’t let my little one outside even in the back garden on her own. More serious penalties needed.”
Presenter Damien O’Reilly told Karen that he was shocked to hear of such “savage cruelty.”
“You do this once and get away with it, what next?” he said.
