Harley's story

Harley was 9 months old. My son conor to her on a walk on friday the 19th after he came off night duty. He walked through raes wood and out to the sandy beach bit. Harley loves the beach and pulled towards the sand. We didn't have a dog this time last year but I remember that dogs had died after being in the water but I had read the water was clear. Conor my son doesn't have fb so he was  unaware. Harley drank some of the water at that point. They continued to walk towards Dublin Road roundabout with Harley showing very few signs that anything was wrong. Conor said that she was still pulling on the lead and rushing along, but she had stopped a one point looked back at him, he thought her eyes looked different. Then he noticed her back leg was kind of wobbly, but as I say she was still pulling on the lead. At the roundabout Harley just sat down and at that point what ever she had consumed had just hit her from 0 to 100. She couldn't get up again. Conor jumped out on to the road and waved down a couple who took him to the firmount vets. Conor reckons it was about half a hour from she had consumed the water until he got to the vets. Conor rang me from the vets at 9.30 friday morning, I was at the vets by 9.45 and Harley passed away around 9.50 . She was a perfectly fit dog before this, with all her vaccinations. The vet said she was in contact with something toxic. The vet couldn't tell me what it was but pretty much said he thought it was the water. 

Harley is just the latest victim of this kind of death, Winnie, Milo, the list of young dogs & puppies who have died less than an hour after being in or around Lough Neagh, goes on. Numerous people have commented on an excessive number of dead fish along the shoreline on several occasions over the last year too. What has caused these deaths?

DAERA have repeatedly failed to find either a plausible scientific explanation or a root cause for any of these deaths, so maybe it's time to bring in specialist environmental scientists.

As it is now, families have been left distraught, devastated, & frustrated by DAERA's lack of progress. This has gone on far too long & too many poor wee puppies & young dogs have lost their lives. The wider community of dog owners, myself included, are now also too terrified to walk their dogs in this scenic beauty spot, which was once a firm favourite. We need this mystery solved  a.s.a.p. & an end brought to the loss of young canine lives, if DAERA can't do it, then the government needs to find someone who will!! We need justice for Harley, Winnie, Milo & all of the others!!