A FIRST-TIME local election candidate was bitten so deeply by a dog while she was out canvassing at the weekend that she required an X-ray to ensure the animal did not leave teeth behind in her leg.

Trina O’Dea, a Fianna Fáil local election candidate for the Adare Rathkeale area, was rushed to hospital on Saturday evening after she was badly bitten by a dog, which she believes was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, while canvassing in the Ballyneety area.

The bite inflicted on Ms O’Dea was “so deep the doctor could put his fingers straight in” to her wounds and touch the bone in her shin, Ms O’Dea told the Limerick Leader when contacted this week.

“Because of the extent of the wounds, in other words how deep and long they are, this dog was narrowly close to taking away a severe chunk of my skin and leaving my leg wide open,” she said.

“They told me in A&E that it was the worst dog bite they had seen in a long time.”

Doctors also had to use three litres of fluids to thoroughly clean her wounds, which required urgent care due to the highly infectious nature of dog bites.

Her treatment was also further complicated by the fact the dog had vomited while clamped down on her leg.

Caption above: Trina, recovering, but having to use crutches, pictured with Deputy Niall Collins

“I have a seven-year-old daughter and if that dog had attacked her like it did me, she wouldn’t have a leg. That is the extent of how wide his jaw went around my leg. If it had been a child, they wouldn’t have had a chance.”

The incident has been reported to gardaí and the matter is currently under investigation, a garda spokesperson confirmed. “We were canvassing the area and I had a local person with me,” Ms O’Dea explained.

“There are a lot of big houses on that road, and a lot of electric gates and we don’t interfere with them.”

“We came to this house and there was no closed gates. I am always cautious of dogs and I am always cautious of people's privacy but there was no signage outside the house. There was no signage to warn of dogs and there was no signage to say no canvassers or trespassers.”

“We proceeded to go in and knock on the door. We were waiting for a couple of seconds when the next thing, this dog came out of nowhere and just pounced and got my leg,” Ms O’Dea said.

“He didn’t bark, he didn’t growl, he just attacked. He tried to drag me to the ground. At the door we were at, there was a railing I held onto and that’s what kept me up. It all happened so fast.”

“I cannot honestly tell you what made that dog let go of my leg,” she said, adding they then called her husband, who was parked nearby, to drive down to pick them up.

“From there, I went straight to the emergency department,” she added. In triage at the University Hospital Limerick, she was advised treating her wound was “highly urgent.”

“These people [at the hospital] didn’t know me, or who I am or that I am involved in politics. They didn’t know an iota about me.”

“When they saw my leg, they informed me it required urgent treatment because of the nature of a dog bite.” Following the incident, she is currently on a strong dose of antibiotics and may possibly require surgery. She must also use crutches until Friday at the earliest.

“The injury is on a very sensitive part of the leg so they cannot predict the healing time for it.”

“My civic duty as an individual is to report this to the guards. The issue here is that the dog was on private property. Under the Dog Control Act, if the incident happens on private property that is the dog’s home, there is very little the law can do in terms of repercussions for the dog or dog owners.”

“My concern here is that while I am an adult, what could have happened if this was a child? What would happen if a child wandered onto this property or if a child was in front of this property and the dog was out?”

“While I was there canvassing, and there are lots of people who say politicians should canvass or politicians shouldn’t canvass, but what if I was a post-person delivering post or someone delivering a package,” she asked.

“What if I was someone looking for directions and saw that this was the only open gateway on a road so went in there? Or a child looking for their ball? Are those people trespassing?”

“To me, I am knocking on people’s doors to inform them of me and who I am and the things I want to do to make their community better. Does that mean I deserve a dog to do what he did to me? No.”

Ireland’s Dog Control laws need to be examined, she believes. “There could be no repercussions in this case unless I take a civil case. I’m not one to like seeing dogs being put to sleep and I know not all dogs are the same.”

“But a dog that creeps up on an individual and attacks like that, it isn’t a dog that’s scared. Its a vicious dog and a hazard to public safety.”

An Garda Síochana was asked if contact has been made with the dog’s owner and if the dog will be put down following the incident. A spokesperson confirmed that the incident is being investigated by gardaí at Roxboro.