Bridport dog owner angry after fish hook injures pet (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Bridport dog owner angry after fish hook injures pet

12:00pm Thursday 29th November 2012 in Bridport By Anne Bell

A Bridport woman is furious and appalled at an angler’s thoughtlessness after her pet dog almost swallowed a vicious fish hook.

Andrea Collingridge was walking her spaniel Abbi on the pier at West Bay when the five-year-old dog picked up something in her mouth.

To her horror Andrea, of Park Road, looked in the dog’s mouth and found a fish hook attached to line and tackle.

“Abbi was on a stretch lead and several feet in front of me I noticed she’d picked something up,” she said.

“The pier is often very messy after fishermen have been there with discarded bait packets and pieces of fishing line and I was horrified when I opened her mouth to find what she had picked up was a fishing hook and line.

“Fortunately I was with my mother as she was able to hold my dog while I managed to get the hook out of my dog's mouth before she swallowed it.

“She had obviously eaten the bait. Her tongue was cut and bleeding, but if I hadn't noticed so quickly that she had picked something up the consequences could have been fatal.”

Abbi was not badly hurt and seemed none the worse for her experience. But Andrea said there had been other incidences of hooks and tackle left on the beach or around the pier and since Abbi’s narrow escape she has heard of a dog which with a discarded hook through its lip.

“But we were right on the end of the pier, so there isn’t the excuse that it had been washed up.

“When are these irresponsible fishermen going to get a conscience and clear up after themselves?

“ I know it’s not all fishermen, but the amount of rubbish left is awful. Would it be so hard for them to take a carrier bag and responsibly clear up after themselves?”

West Bay harbourmaster James Radcliffe said that there was no excuse for anglers to leave tackle lying around after they had been fishing.

“Most anglers are very good, but it is the odd few who let down the rest,” he said.

“There is no excuse for this and there are also bins provided on the pier.”