A Scots dog owner has been left heartbroken after her 11-month-old cocker spaniel was killed by a poisonous snake. Puppy Ollie was bitten by an adder during a walk around Loch Lee in Glen Esk last month.
Iwona Beaton raced her two dogs to the vet when her other dog Charlie appeared to jump away and she saw the black adder snake in Angus. Ollie went multiple visits to the vets and had emergency treatment but sadly lost his life three days later after the snake's venom slowly shut down his internal organs.
Now Iwona, 40, from Aberdeen wants to help stop a similar tragedy affecting anyone else and has began a new awareness campaign. She told Abderdeen Live: "Ollie was such an amazing, affectionate, sweet dog who we loved with all our hearts and miss terribly.
"Snake bites in this country are rare but they do happen. Nothing will ever ease the pain of us losing Ollie but if we can help save even one other dog's life by sharing what happened, then his death won't have been in vain."
Iwona had been walking her dogs with a friend when the incident happened.
She said: "I'd seen signs warning about it being lambing season, so had my dogs on the lead for a lot of the walk but, at what I thought was a safe spot, I'd let them off the lead for a run around. Locals may know it's a common area for adders but I'd no idea and I've never seen a sign warning about snakes.
"I noticed my older dog jumping away from something. When I went to see what it was, I saw the adder. At this point, Ollie was nowhere near the snake and I was worried Charlie had been bitten.
"We decided to head back to the car so I could get Charlie checked over by a vet, then Ollie's face started to swell, which was when we realised it was Ollie who had been bitten."
Iwona carried Ollie back to her car on the 10-mile hike which is right thing to do after a snake bite as it can help slow the spread of the poison around their body. Despite Iwona's quick reactions, Ollie's tiny frame struggled to cope.
Iwona said: "His little body couldn't fight the snake's venom. His internal organs and bloodstream system were all infected and slowly stopped working."
Iwona has now made an information poster which she hopes will be shared widely on social media and put it up in popular dog walking areas where adders are known to live. Almost 100 dogs were last year believed to have been bitten.
Iwona said: "When I tell people what happened to Ollie, everyone is shocked to hear he died from a snake bite."
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