The owner of a dog found straying in Dunboyne “in a very poor physical condition and starving” and might have died had he not received immediate medical attention has been handed a court community service order. Andrew Byrne, Woodview Heights, Dunboyne had been prosecuted at Navan District Court by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for neglect of the dog last year. The case was part heard at Navan last December and was finalised by Judge Eirinn McKiernan on Friday (14th March’25).
Prosecuting solicitor Anjana Hanratty had told the court that the Highland terrier had been found straying by a member of the public who brought the animal to the Village Vets in Dunboyne. She said that in the opinion of the vet he might have died had he not received medical attention. “He was starved. His ribs and bones were extremely prominent. He was emaciated with shrunken eyes. He had a very bad skin condition which showed that he had been neglected for a very long time. He had a body condition of one out of nine. He had chronic, long standing infection of the ears and a skin condition that affected most parts of his body”, Ms Hanratty said.
The court was also told that the dog was unable to walk and was falling over due to his neurological condition. He had also lost considerable weight. The animal had needed medical attention but had not been taken to the vet in three years. Last December defending solicitor Pauric Murray told the court that his 43-year-old client Andrew Byrne had had the dog since 2010. It was a family dog and had been well looked after. Referring to photographs of the dog handed into court Judge Eirinn McKiernan remarked “How could anyone let a dog get into that condition?” When the case resumed on Friday Mr Murray said that his client had since paid the court costs of bringing the case. He was also very apologetic about the matter.
After reading a probation report on the defendant Judge McKiernan imposed a sentence of 50 hours community service in lieu of one month’s imprisonment.
